It's Peaceful in the Shade
by Sassy Candy
Summary: Would life always be a crisis? Helping friends find love, traversing parenthood, jumping head first into civil war, or helping the tourism industry. Peace felt like a mirage; it's light could either fly past them or shine through them. At least Seaside Island is a sanctuary, for now. Rated for adult themes/language. Set 10 years after Sonic Boom. Sonamy, Knuxulie, Shadouge, Taiream
1. Chapter 1: Think Like an Echidna

_**Update - June 25th, 2019:**_ This story is very much an 'AU'. At about chapter seventy, I start to heavily influence canon. Not that I wasn't from the very beginning, heh, but I figure I should say so up front. In case I gave off the vibe that this was all how the original writers intended things to go, let me clarify that it merely 'mirrors' the comics and or shows in some ways, but the rest of this story is all me. ;)

 _For the new readers, let me start out by saying_ : This was originally a oneshot. However long this story is at this point in time, remember that it all started out as these first six hundred words and my desire to get out of my writing funk.

The story is a slow burn and it's hard to really say what it's about anymore. It's about everything. Finding love, brush with war, parenthood, social stigma, celebrity, politics, self expression, werehogs, introspection, family drama, addiction, hopes and dreams...anyway, the list goes on.

I kept it light and funny for the first thirty chapters, then it gets a bit more serious.

Enjoy. :)

Peace out.

* * *

 ** _-Chapter 1: Think Like an Echidna-_**

* * *

On the sleepy Seaside Island, Knuckles enjoyed a workout on the beach. "One. Two. Three...number after three...five," he said to count his handstand push-ups. He had designed an entire workout regiment that required him to be upside down.

"Knuckles, what are you doing?" Amy appeared from a hover board and landed on Knuckles camp on the beach.

He lowered himself to his feet again. "Hey, Ames! Just doing my patented 'reverse blood flow' technique. If I send more blood to my upper body, I'll get better results." He flexed an impressive bicep.

"Explain, please," Amy asked while face palming.

"It goes like this," Knuckles explained in a flashback.

 _Knuckles hung from a tree by his ankles doing sit-ups._

 _Knuckles in a contraption Tails made to allow him to run on a treadmill while doing a handstand._

 _Knuckles on his head, food and drink in hands, as he watched a movie._

 _Knuckles hung from a chin-up bar by the backs of his knees and pulled big weights from the ground to his chin and back again._

 _Knuckles did a backstroke, face down; he stayed motionless as Sonic and Amy pulled him out of the pool._

"Gotta work on that last one," he said, one fist on his hip, the other scratched his chin.

Amy placed a basket of treats on a nearby table, "That's what you were doing in there? Why not use a snorkel?"

"Because then I would just be snorkeling. And the point is to do everything upside down...besides, I tried upside down snorkeling and well..."

 _Knuckles wore a snorkel and floated on his back in the pool, motionless. Sonic fished him out with a pool skimmer._

"..." Amy could only muster a blank stare. She smiled, "Whatever works for you. But might I suggest you do water based activities with more than just Sonic around." She motioned to the gift she brought. "Home baked goods, honey from local farms and wine from the orchard down the road."

"You're the best Ames, thanks," Knuckles said as he pawed through the basket and landed on the wine. "I'm know someone who's going to get a casserole this weekend."

Amy clasped her hands together, "Really?" She remembered that Knuckles had been perfecting his cooking skills. "That last one you made was really good. What's your secret?"

Knuckles shut his eyes and turned away with a hand wave, "Trade secret," he said and folded his arms.

 _Knuckles was upside down cooking at a small iron stove. He smacked his lips and thought a moment. With an 'ah-ha' he grabbed a spice bottle with his toes and sprinkled some in, followed by a pinch of salt from a nearby bowl. With the other foot, he grabbed a spoon, stirred and tested the sauce again; he gave a nod of satisfaction._

"Whatever it is, keep it up; it's working," she said. "We're going to be having a luau tonight if you're interested." She turned and waved. "It starts at dusk. You only need to bring your own meat. Later." Amy was off on the hover board once again.

"I'll be there," he said and went back his handstand push-ups. "Now where was I?" He paused. "Right, five! Number after five, number after the number after five, seven, eight, nine..." He paused. "I think I missed one...ten, ten again." He stood up. "A solid bakers 10."

* * *

I edited it a little to not be so...choppy. O_O

I don't know why this made me laugh to think about but there you have it. XD

Any thoughts?


	2. Chapter 2: After Sundown

I was going to make this a oneshot, but then I just kept getting idea after idea, so I'm rolling with it.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 2: After Sundown -**_

* * *

The luau was a big hit with the villagers. It lasted until the AM's. When it finally drew to a close, folks began making their way home; some more steady footed than others. Knuckles and Sonic headed to Sonic's hut.

Knuckles plopped down on the couch. "Did you see they Mayor try to limbo? That was priceless," he said as he finished the last of his kebab.

"I didn't. Luckily Tails had some cameras set up in a few spots. I'll skim through it tomorrow," Sonic said as he lounged back in his hammock.

"Great. Wait, why were there cameras?"

"The city counsel said they want to increase revenue during the busy months by advertising us as a 'hot-spot get-away tourist-trap money-maker' something or other."

Knuckles scratched his head. "Hmm, usually Eggman shows up to ruin those kind of things. I wonder where he was tonight," he thought out loud.

"He was promised a cut."

"Money talks."

"Plus he's getting older, not much fight left in him now-a-days..." Sonic paused for a few seconds then asked, "Knuckles, do you want my hut?"

"What?" Knuckles sat up. "Are you leaving? You can't be that bored."

Sonic rolled over to see his friend with a bemused expression. "No. I'm staying on the island," he said and rolled on to his back and crossed a leg over a knee. "Amy suggested we move in together and well-"

"Your place is a dump so you're bailing?"

Sonic narrowed his eyes at him. "Amy's got too much to fit in here with my stuff."

"Yeah, that's what I meant, eh-heh," he chuckled warmly.

Sonic also chuckled, "Nah, my place is boring. Besides my husk collection, there's not really much in here. It's less of a dump and more of a boring storage closet where I sleep. Amy's place actually feels like a home. And considering how big your camp is, I figured putting at least some of it under a roof would protect it from the elements during the rainy season."

"That would help a lot. Thanks, buddy, I appreciate it. It also gives me more room to prepare meals." He hooked a thumb toward Sonic's counter.

Sonic nodded, "Yep. And I gotta say I'm impressed you're so adept at food preparation. We give you guff for being a meat head, but damn, you can cook."

"When you're as strong as me you need a powerful apatite to go with it. Besides, it's not like I have to much going for me; I kinda gotta work with what I got."

Sonic sensed his friend's insecurities and scoffed, "Oh, yeah, I'm so sure you don't have much going for you." He counted on his fingers, "You're tall. You're the strongest in the village. You've got a sense of humor. You can cook. You can fight. And you're a good looking dude, so I've been told. That's six things right there!"

"SIX!" Knuckles shouted, "That's the one I was missing!"

"W-what?"

"Nothing...and what's the one after three?"

"Four?"

"Thanks buddy," he said with a cheerful tone and rolled over with a fake yawn, "Goodnight."

Sonic felt Knuckles was a bit to quick to fall asleep, "No problem Knucks, goodnight." He'd talk to him in the morning.

* * *

I'm trying a slightly different format for this story. Normally I make my chapters a few thousand words long, but I see a lot of these little ones floating around so I figured I'd try my hand at it.

Yes, this is the only story I have on this account. I haven't written in years and ended up forgetting my password to both email and account, so I get to start all over again! Yea for me. x.x


	3. Chapter 3: Breakfast Not-Rush

The words keep flowing. :D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 3: Breakfast Not-Rush-**_

* * *

"Look at allll these happy faces," Sonic said sarcastically as he took note of all the hungover patrons at Meh Burger the morning after.

"That's why I don't drink," Sticks said, "When your brain is in a weakened state, that's when the mind control takes over. They're not sick, they're being controlled! YOU'RE ALL PAWNS!"

"Sticks, please," Sonic said and pointed at Dave the intern covering his head and ears. "Let's order our food before you make everyone's head explode."

"Oops, my bad," Sticks said then looked over her shoulder at the rest of the patrons doing the same thing, "Maybe you're right. No one can control this many minds in such a short amount of time. Not without me noticing."

The four friends took a seat after ordering. "This is gonna be a wait and a half I bet," Tails said.

"Probably," Sonic concurred, "I hope not though. Amy's been working on the town's commercial for the last couple hours, giving it the old 'heave ho' approach and she's probably starving."

As they sat and chatted for a few minutes, Eggman appeared at the front door.

"Eggman! Yo," Sonic said with a wave, "How come you missed the party?" He knew full well an invitation was sent out to the man.

"I've got better things to do than drink away my brain cells. Besides...I watched from afar and got Orbot and Cubot to steal food for me." He walked past them and up to the counter to see Dave resting his forehead on the cash register. "Look alive scrub."

Sonic brought his attention back to the table. "Not the same."

"He's just not evil anymore," Knuckles said, "It's like he's," and trailed off.

"Bored?" Tails suggested. "Oh, our food's up."

A slow Dave began his journey from the kitchen to the table. It was going to be a few minutes till he arrived.

Eggman butted in, "I'm not bored. I just don't care. I've built up my base and staked my claim as a genius. Apart from not having a protege to pass all of it down to, I'm doing just fine. Besides, cyber crimes are the hot new thing; I'm making a killing off of Bit-Ring," he said as he brushed by Sonic with his tray of food.

He watched Eggman sit down at a table across him. "How did you get your food so quickly?" he asked.

" _I_ called ahead," Eggman said and began eating his lasagna with a knife and fork, being sure he scraped the plate every inch of the way. The whole restaurant cringed. "Heh, delicious." He didn't stop to take a bite, he just kept cutting the pasta.

Sonic's crew got up and headed for the door.

Sonic ran to Dave, "Thanks for the food, take er easy," and then ran out of Meh Burger to join the others, bags in hand.

"He's still evil alright," Sticks said, "Only, evil in a different way."

All nodded except for Knuckles, "Does protege mean 'kid'?" he questioned.

"No," Tails informed him. "It's like a student who's being guided to be just like the one who's teaching them."

"Hopefully someone like him never has kids," Sticks pretended to gag herself with a finger.

"Who would want to?" Tails added and they laughed.

Except for one, "Oh, I see," Knuckles acknowledged what was said but looked like he was getting lost in thought. His arms were folded and he walked behind everyone to stare off in the distance.

Sonic pieced it together pretty quickly, ' _He started acting funny when I mentioned I was going to live with Amy; now he's being distant after we bring up having kids. Not good._ ' Sonic knew Knuckles was alone in the world when it came to his species. He'd talk to Tails about it later to see if they could help Knuckles feel a little less hopeless. ' _Now I definitely can't break the news to everyone. Not till we get Knucks sorted._ ' He clasped the paper bag in his hand, hoping it would make Amy feel better.

* * *

The plot thickens. :P


	4. Chapter 4: Planning

Bam! One more, coming at ya! :D

* * *

 ** _-Chapter 4: Planning-_**

* * *

"Tails," Sonic pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to gather words. "I can't help Knuckles."

His younger fox friend nodded. "I see." Sonic had let him in on what he thought was troubling the big guy. Knuckles had broken off from the group after they ate so he could work on his inverse-cardio routine; he was a bit short with them when doing so. "I guess this means you haven't told him about Amy yet?"

Sonic shook his head, "Or Sticks;[but that's because she may think it's some kind of alien embedded in her stomach. I'm still thinking about how to deal with that-]anyway! If I'm right and this is what's on his mind, there's nothing we can do to help him."

"A valid point, but not abysmal. You and I were both adopted and we turned out to be wonderful people, who were _raised_ by wonderful people. We could position it to him like that. He can become a parent even if the child isn't biological."

With a skeptical look and hum, "Hmm, I don't think that's going to help him. The idea of passing down your gene's to the next generation is something totally different than just becoming a parent via adoption. I've heard him brag about having good gene's on numerous occasions. Though I doubt he knows what that really means, I imagine he's got the idea that he needs to be a _direct_ part of passing that on for it to matter."

"You may be reading into this too much."

"Am I?" He stood up, "AM I!?" hands raised up high!

"Because you're 'expecting'," Tails pointed a finger at him.

Sonic crumpled back into the chair, hands on cheeks, "I'm still trying to get my head around it." Sonic had only found out about Amy's pregnancy a few days ago. It was still new news to him too. "I guess I'm being sensitive, but it's better safe than sorry."

"True," Tails took a moment to ponder. "Cloning?"

Sonic held up a hand, "That's a slippery slope."

"Also true...hmm...well...there is one other option that's really 'out there'."

"What? Anything!" Sonic paused, "Except for building a robot to look like a female echidna, tricking Knuckles into thinking he's not alone, then impregnating her and faking an entire family for him until the day he dies!"

Dead pan stare ensued. "...I told you that you were being sensitive."

"Tails! I'm serious!"

"I know-I know. I would never be able to do that to someone, anyway; probably mostly because I wouldn't know how," he started pacing, "There's only one problem with my plan." He knew it was dire.

"And that is-" Sonic trailed off.

"You."

"Me?"

"It's a whole two day long boat ride to get there."

Sonic stood up and said, "Great talk Tails. Really a shame we can't help Knuckles. Talk to yo-"

Tails put a hand on his shoulder and sat him back down. "It's to get to an archive. There's a big library I know about on the mainland that has birth records back further than 200 years. If any other echidnas exist in this world, we'd be able to find out there. I'll call ahead to see if they still have the family trees."

Sonic was panicked. "...and I NNNNNEEEED to go with you for this?"

"There's a lot of books, we need all the hands we can get." Tails shrugged. "I bet Amy will want to come along with us; are YOU going to let your pregnant girlfriend travel alone?"

"You're right..." Sonic paused, "I feel sick."

"You'll survive. I'll go make the call and see if things are a-go for the archives."

Sonic put his head between his knees. "Ooooh, not good."

"You're gonna be fine. Just please, don't puke on my floor."

He pointed a finger upward, "I _can_ promise you that...but _not_ if I get on a boat."

Tails pat his blue-green friend's back, "At least you know how Amy feels right now."

"And for the last week, this's been her mornings...okay, fears and puking aside...I can do this...I can't do this well...I wan-...want to do this."

Tails was now on hold with the library. "We'll get you though it, don't worry," he said as he rubbed Sonic's back and waited for the library to respond. He nudged a trashcan under Sonic's head, put on the speaker phone and jacked up the calming hold music.

* * *

I literally only found out that Sonic was hydrophobic a few weeks ago. I played water levels in the game I owned and it never came up, plus I never saw it in any series, that I can recall, because it was forever ago.

But the fear is REAL! Like, never saw Sonic lose his cool before dealing with water higher than nipple height before, REAL!

Thoughts?


	5. Chapter 5: Rough Morning

Aww, I got a review. Thank's, NeckBreak, glad to hear from ya, friend! I hope you like where I'm taking the story.  
To the silent folx who've been reading, I do hope to hear from you too, no need to be shy. If you aren't the reviewing ilk, that's cool too.

Have a great day everyone! :D

I'm having fun with this story. Keeping my chapters short is really helping me to not overwhelm myself with content. It's like writing scenes instead of full chapters.

They may get longer as time goes on, but for now, I'm trying to keep each chapter around 1000 words.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 5: Rough Morning-**_

* * *

Sonic was sure to be extra quiet when entering Amy's house. It was still her house for the next few days while they moved some things around, but then it would become 'their' house. He saw her laying on the end of the couch near a bin, with a half eaten box of fries on the table. With a grimace he checked to see if she manage to keep her fries. "...She did. That's a relief."

"Mmm," she opened her eyes a little and saw him Sonic checking her.

"Hey, sorry to wake you," he said and kissed her.

"I've been dozing for the last hour." Amy sat up and leaned back in the couch as far as she could go. "I know morning sickness is worrisome, but I'll be fine."

"It's been everyday for the last week. Are you sure you shouldn't go to a doctor?"

Amy nodded. "All they'd do is give me something to get rid of nausea and I can do that myself. And it won't be some synthetic chemicals, it'll be natural." She checked her wrist communicator. "The ginger tea I ordered should be in today along with the maternity vitamins and a few other thi-"

A knock at the door broke her concentration.

"I'll get it." Sonic got up, signed for the package then brought it to Amy. "Heh, I love comedic timing." He sat next to her.

Amy wasn't kidding when she said a few things, she was however under-exaggerating. The box was _jammed_ full of goodies to help fight queasiness. "Where's the peppermint incense...ah, here we go. Oh, and look at that," she said and opened the package of lovely smelling sticks, breathing in deeply, "I even got a sandalwood sample." She looked at the box everything came in, "And a candy sampler, bonus bath bomb, two tea towels instead of one-I'm definitely ordering from these guys again!"

"Mind if I have these ginger chews?" He held up a bag she had multiples of.

With a little confusion she said, "Sure?"

"I'll need all the help I can get for where we're going."

Amy knew that could only mean one thing and became starry eyed. "We're taking a trip?"

"Two days on a boat to the mainland to find a library. It isn't romantic or anything bu-aaggggh!" His sentence was cut short because Amy squealed and glomped him.

"I don't care; you're taking me on a boat to the main land! Do you know what this means?" She got up and reached for a lighter. "The store I got this from is there. There's a few goods they don't ship, which are seasonal in-store products only. You're so brave, Sonic," She lit a peppermint and sandalwood incense. Amy hopped back on the couch and crawled toward Sonic, "That deserves praise. Now that I'm feeling better, wanna mess around?"

"Really? Sure," he said, kissed his lovely pink partner and proceeded to make love to her.

After their quickie on the couch Amy asked, "What's the occasion? Why are we making this trip in the first place, I mean?" She straightened her skirt out and sat back down.

"That's the thing I saved for last. It's for Knuckles," Sonic said and proceeded to tell her his idea he and Tails came up with. "It was Tails idea mostly; I'm taking a little credit because I agreed to get on a...boat."

"You know we're too far out to fly anywhere. We'd need a much bigger plane and a way to refuel after day one," she said and hugged Sonic. "I'm really proud of you." She kissed his cheek.

He smirked. "Yep, doin what I can to get my friends laid," he brushed his hands to together with an accomplished smirk.

Amy snickered, "I'm sure he's had a few ladies here and there, Sonic."

Sonic shook his head.

"...or even just," she made a suggestive hand to mouth motion.

Sonic shook his head wider but a little slower.

"H-has he kissed-" she saw Sonic shut his eyes and continue the onslaught of 'no'. "Come on! How do you know for sure?"

"I've asked in the past, and I doubt anything's changed in the last couple months," he shrugged.

Amy looked down and felt a bit of sadness creep up on her, "He must feel so isolated not even being able to check and see if he's the only echidna left."

"The world's a big place, we might get lucky, we may not. We gotta try."

Amy nodded and hit a fist into the palm of her hand. "Which is why we shouldn't tell him what this trip's about until we can confirm the existence of at least a few other echidnas. I'd hate to get his hopes up just to have them dashed equally as quick."

"What do we tell him then?"

"I can't think on an empty stomach," she got up and went to the fridge for her Meh Burger, "Let me get this in me and we'll brainstorm."

"I'll call Tails and let him know to keep things under wraps," he said and buzzed his friend.

The plan had begun.

* * *

I have no clue how Sonic Boom will end, but for now, I'm rolling with this.

Whatever way it ends, this is turning out pretty good considering I haven't written anything in...when was 2014? About there.

Peace out.


	6. Chapter 6: A Ticket Out

Next one! :D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 6: A Ticket Out-**_

* * *

A week went by. Knuckles was situated in his new home and Sonic and Amy in theirs.

"This is nice," Knuckles said as he woke up to see a ceiling above him. It was his second day in the new house and he was adjusting just fine. "A guy could get used to this," he said and stretched.

"Don't get too used to it just yet," Tails said from the door. He waited by the entrance until Knuckles was awake.

"Hey, Tails. Good morning," Knuckles said with a wave and smile.

"It is pretty good, isn't it?" he said and extended a boat ticket.

"What's this? A boat ride? A vacation?" Knuckles got excited.

He nodded, "Sort of; it's a commute to the mainland. I want to get some books from their library and couldn't decided on who to take with me, so everyone's coming!"

Knuckles looked more excited, "I've never been to the mainland before."

"You'll like it. I've been there a couple times. It's super busy and there's lots of things to do. I figured while I've got my nose in the books, everyone could go check out a few shops in town. Amy's already got her heart set on one place in particular."

"Thanks, man," he said and then looked concerned, "Have you told Sonic yet," he saw Tails nod, "How'd he take it?"

"He almost threw-up on me, but he's down for it. He wants to go because Amy's-" Tails caught himself, "Going as well, and he doesn't want to be left out." He laughed to himself a bit. ' _Nice save, Tails._ '

"Yeah, no way I'm missing out on this. If you need someone to get Sonic on the boat or hold him down after we board, I'm your man!" He chuckled and gave Tails a pat on the back, then poked him with his elbow, "Is Zooey coming toooo?"

Tails blushed, "I haven't asked her yet."

"Gotta get on that, man, gonna miss the boat," he joked with Tails.

"Cuz we're going on boat, heh, I get it," he smiled. It sounded like Knuckles was back to his old self again. "We leave tomorrow and we'll be staying for three days, depending on weather."

"Whether what?"

"What?"

"What?" Knuckles was confused.

"I mean if it rains or not; if the weather is too crappy, we'll have to change that return date. Be sure you don't leave any loose ends around here." Tails had no idea how long it would take to search records. The library told him there were a few shelves of family trees and couldn't even put a number on how many they had.

"So, no meat or milk in the fridge, shut off the power and..." he thought to himself, "...aaaand...hmm," he thought about things he may have missed.

Tails suggested, "Cancel any plans for the next week. We may miss the chili cook off, but it's a small price to pay."

Knuckles grit his teeth, "Someday, I will own that hat," and clenched his fist on 'hat'.

He laughed, "Maybe we can find some kind of cooking competition on the mainland."

"Great idea," Knuckles said and went around his place to grab a few odds and ends things, "I'm gonna sell these and get some money to buy ingredients if need be."

"Awesome! The boat leaves at 6AM tomorrow."

"I'll be there with bells on," he said.

Tails paused, "Actual bells?"

"...no," Knuckles grabbed his box of bells and put it on top of the pile of stuff in his arms. "Do you mind giving that a stir?" He motioned to the stove and bubbling pot. "I don't want it to burn to the bottom. I'll be back soon."

"Sure thing," he gave Knuckles a thumbs up. When he was sure he was out of earshot, Tails called Sonic and Amy. "Alright, he doesn't suspect a thing. I nearly spilled the beans too, but I saved it."

' _10-4 good buddy._ ' Sonic's voice sounded over the communicator. ' _And you're **sure** we can't fly there?_'

"Sorry, Sonic," he said with a lighthearted tone, "We'll get you through this. Over and out." He shut off the communicator. Tails sniffed the air deeply, "If we do find Knuckles a lady friend, she's in for a treat," he said and stirred and tasted the stew Knuckles made. "This guy can cook." He looked to the side and saw a few small balls of dough covered in plastic wrap waiting to be made into dumplings.

Tails blushed again as he thought about asking Zooey; his finger hovered above the button to make a call. He and Zooey had been an on and off thing for a number of years, so he didn't know if asking her on such a long trip was going to be appropriate. He lowered his hand, ' _If it was only a day or two for sure, I'd ask, but I think it would be best if I just brought her back something nice. Besides, this trip is about Knuckles, not me._ ' He looked at the pot and wondered if making something for Zooey would be better.

"Wait a minute," Tails paused, "He just woke up...how was he cooking?" He was left to ponder.

* * *

This one was a bit difficult to write. The thing I do with a story is write the beginning, think of an ending and then wing it through the middle sections. This is part of the middle section. That being said, there may only be about 6 or so more chapters. I don't want to drag this out too long.

Peace out.


	7. Chapter 7: Board

Next up!

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 7: Board-**_

* * *

Sonic woke up extra early to prepare. He lit an incense and snuck out of the bedroom to boil tea for Amy. Try as they might, the morning sickness was a difficult beast to quell once it started. Sonic got up before Amy to get her everything she could need before the queasiness set in.

No sooner had he filled her cup with boiling water when the bathroom door slammed. "Ah, dammit," he said and rubbed his face with his hands. "Missed it by that much. I gotta get us a kettle with a timer."

He grabbed the incense from their room and put it outside the bathroom. After the sounds subsided he knocked lightly. "You alright, Ames?"

She appeared in the doorway looking drained. "For like, five minutes, maybe." There were bouts of wellness between each trip. Sonic handed her the teacup and saucer that held a few sweet ginger chews on the side. "How sweet. Thank you."

"I tried to be sneaky, but I got out sneaked by hormones." They sat at the coffee table and waited, hoping they caught it quick enough.

"We can just say I have food poisoning."

Sonic brightened up, "True. I can pretend to feel crappy too...though, I doubt I'll have to keep faking after we get on the boat."

Amy laughed lightly as she popped a candy. "It'll seem more believable, at least." She sipped a bit of tea and let it wash around the ginger chew. "So good." She was really beginning to grow a taste for the healing spice.

"You just sit still." Sonic turned on the overhead fan to generate a breeze.

She shut her eyes and sipped lightly. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Sonic looking as concerned as ever. "I'll be okay."

"I know...I'm just on edge."

"What's bothering you more, the boat trip or me?"

"...yes." Blank stare.

"That's not-heh," she snickered. "I get it."

Time ticked on and Amy stayed in the same spot on the couch while Sonic gathered their things. "Do you think we're in the clear?" He laid their bags by the door.

Amy held a hand over her tummy and gave it a rub. "I think so..." She stood up and sat right back down again, "Uh, a few more minutes. Maybe a foot rub would help?" She wiggled a tootsie at him.

"I can do that," he said and sat at her feet. He squeezed the arches.

Her head flopped back on the couch. "That's nice...maybe we just need to put me on one of those royal thrones you carry and you can just rub my feet all the way to the boat."

"If I could, I would," he said and kissed the top of her feet, making her blush.

"Don't get me in the mood now, we don't have time."

Sonic smirked, "That's fair." He continued his barrage on his companions feet until the the alarm went off, signalling that they needed to head down to the shore.

"I think I got this," Amy said and finished the last mouthful of tea.

"It worked?"

She stood up and gave a stretch. "Yep, I feel fine. I'll take it easy though; no sense in tempting fate." The two grabbed their things and walked hand in hand to the boat. The others were already there and waved to them. "How you holding up, Sonic?" she asked.

He shook his head, "Not sure," he said and held on to Amy's arm with both hands. "This is as far as I go without your help." He laid his head on her shoulder.

Amy kissed his forehead. "I'll keep you safe, my love," she led his now shaky legs onto the boat.

"Look, bro, we got you covered," Knuckles said as the boat crew stacked all the life preservers on each of his arms. "And it's teaching me to count," he said and another crew member put an additional life preserver on his right arm. He pointed to each one as Knuckles successfully counted to fifteen and added sixteen to the end for him.

"That's really good Knuckles," Amy said and shook Sonic's arm, "Right, Sonic."

Eyes wide with terror, "Yep. Repetition, that's how it sticks."

When the boat was finished loading it's export goods, and Knuckles reached 24 life preservers on all his limbs, they were ready to shove off.

The ship's whistle blew up above deck. "Is it any better down here?" Knuckles asked as he put down two of the life preservers he kept.

"Not sure," Sonic said and stood up, "Let me go stand on the shore and I'll tell you if there's a difference."

Knuckles sat him back down.

A second later he got up again, "I think I left the stove on," he said and was met with Amy standing in front of the door.

"I shut the power off before we left," she said and pointed to his chair.

Sonic sat back down and frantically looked for another excuse. "Sticks! I think I hear aliens coming! Quick, we need to alert the towns folk!"

"Nope," she said and pulled out a remote contraption with a mini spinning satellite. "There hasn't been any activity as of late. We're in the clear."

"Dammit," Sonic said and curled up in a tight ball on his chair. "I'm not coming out till we're there."

"Sonic," Amy said and tried to get him to unfold.

"Nope. I'm a hedgehog. I'm designed to be in ball form when I feel threatened."

"You need to eat and drink," Tails said. "It's two days till we land."

Knuckles picked up the scared, spiky, blue ball and held him on a shoulder. "Let's go check out the galley and see what's for breakfast."

"I suppose we could just stick a straw in him so he can get something to drink at least," Tails added. The three guys headed out the door.

Sticks stopped Amy from following. She sniffed Amy, uncomfortably, all over. "You smell pregnant."

She hesitated, "S-surprise?" she said with a shrug. Just as Sticks was about to squeal with glee, Amy covered her mouth. "I have some things to tell you first, just keep quiet about it for now and...how does someone smell pregnant?"

Sticks shrugged. "Why else would you smell like ginger this early in the morning?"

"How-it-that's not a...no matter, come on," she said and they followed after the others.

* * *

Another one down. :D


	8. Chapter 8: Never Alone

Woot woot! Here we go! :D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 8: Never Alone-**_

* * *

"Amy, can you give me one of those candies in your purse, please? These waves aren't very friendly." Sonic was still a ball and the rockiness of the boat wasn't helping his nerves.

"Here you go," she said and extended it to him. He didn't move. "Sonic, you need to unball."

"No-no, just stick it in the side here." He unfurled enough so Amy could fit her hand inside his defenses. "Nope, that's my forehead-that's my cheek-that went up my nose! ACK!"

"Found it. It was the noisy spot." She giggled.

"My uncle told me to stay away form 'nose candy'." He said while trying to chew.

"Different thing," she said. "It's been four hours, Sonic, you're going to get cramped."

"I'm fine."

"Come on," she said and rolled him along. "Let's go mingle. That'll get your mind off things."

The boat carried a few dozen passengers and tons of cargo; they'd be stopping at multiple islands along the way to gather more. It was a weekly trip around the islands, collecting goods and ferrying passengers to various locations.

"Oh look, a ramp," Amy said and rolled him down to the lowest deck, where a great deal of noise was coming from. She saw Knuckles back turned to them. "What's going on here?" she asked him as she approached the group of people standing in a circle. There was was loud dance music playing.

He rubbed his hands together. "Break dancing. I'm gonna try my hand next." And so he did. His best moves were the 'worm', 'windmill' and 'headspin'. Knuckles took a bow, soaked up his applause and let the next person go up.

While talking to Amy and the orb that was her partner, another patron gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Didn't know you could dance, Kline."

Knuckles turned around, confused, "I'm Knuckles, not Kline."

"Oh, sorry buddy," the dreadlocked emu said, "You look a lot like my friend from behind." He laughed.

Amy sounded confused, "You're friend looks like an echidna?"

"Well, yeah," he shrugged, "He is an echidna."

Knuckles picked the guy up by his two arms, "Are you sure?!"

"Yeah. I mean, I think so. He and his wife just had a baby a few months ago."

"A baby echidna?!"

"No, a baby puma."

Knuckles put the guy down, "Oh."

He laughed, "I'm kidding. Little girl. Named her Marii."

"Seriously?" Amy said with excitement. "You hear that?! You're not the only echidna left!" They hugged.

"What gave you that idea?" the newcomer asked.

"I've lived on an island that doesn't have any others like me my whole life," he said.

"There's tons of echidna folk on the mainland now. They used to live on an island, can't remember the name, but a plant disease caused a famine and they ended up all over the place. I think the biggest population lives in a place called Lush Valley on the southern continent." The well travelled bird extended a hand. "I'm Chopper, nice to meet you."

The three introduced themselves, even Sonic stuck a hand out to shake, but then was right back in again.

"You should come down to our cabin tonight, Knuckles; I'll introduce you to a few people who may know a bit more than me."

"I'll be there!"

He turned to Amy and Sonic, "You guys are welcome to come along too. We're having drinks and other stuff going on."

Amy waved a hand, "I appreciate the offer, but I can't drink, I'm pregnant."

"WHAT?!" Knuckles said at the top of his voice. "I don't know what to be more excited about! Congratulations guys!" He hugged Amy and then picked up Sonic to hug the tense blue bundle. "You're gonna be a daddy! OW! Spikes."

"I know Knuckles," he chuckled.

"Oh, you're coming with me to celebrate tonight, buddy! I gotta tell Tails and Sticks we found more echidnas!" He ran off to find their friends while carrying Sonic like a beach ball under his arm.

Amy laughed, "I'm relieved," she said and turned back to Chopper. "You don't know how much this means to all of us, thank you."

"No problem. Always glad to deliver good news. Where are you guys heading?"

"We were going to look for birth records at the big library on the mainland, but I guess we don't really have to now. Now we're just going for fun. And possibly hunt a few people down, which is _way_ easier."

"I have something you may find useful." He fished around in his bag and handed Amy a book. "It's a little dated, but it's got a few maps of where different villages are on the mainland. I'll let you have it if you promise to return it to the central library when you get there."

"Absolutely." She pawed through a few pages. "This is so wonderful. This means our trip is going to be less stressful than we thought."

"My pleasure." Chopper pulled another book from his bag. "If you didn't know there were other echidna's out there, you probably don't know much about them." He showed a picture of his friend Kline and his wife holding their new baby.

"Aww, she's so cute. And wow, that guy does kind of look like Knuckles."

"And here's what she looked like before she hatched." He showed her a picture of a small speckled egg in a basket with the same two proud parents.

Amy nearly went cross-eyed trying to take it all in. "Echidna's lay eggs?!"

He nodded, "Just like a platypus."

"I'll be honest, I'm a little jealous," she said and put a hand over her tummy, "Mine's going to have spikes." They laughed.

Things were looking better than ever.

* * *

We're gonna let Sonic and Knuckles have a little fun next chapter. *evil grin*


	9. Chapter 9: Night Out 1

They keep getting longer. I think I'm back in the swing of things.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 9: Night Out-**_

* * *

"Come on Sonic," Knuckles said as he bounced back and forth from foot to foot. "Don't be lame in front of these guys."

"Normally I would say something about you calling me lame...but I can't help it. This is lame." He snuggled into the ball shape a bit tighter.

"I thought he'd relax when the weather calmed down," Tails said and picked up a preserver and handed it to knuckles. "But I guess not. If you want to take him, you're going to have to do it while he's like this."

"Come ooooooon, man. You're gonna be a parent, gotta set the right example for the little one. Face your fears," Knuckles said triumphantly.

Sticks raised an eyebrow, "He's making sense." She pulled out her remote to detect aliens and scanned Knuckles. "Hmm, this thing isn't picking up your alien signature." She leaned down and told Sonic, "I think he might actually just be giving you decent advice."

Sonic sighed, "I'll try to loosen up when we get there. My compromise is this," he said and put his arms out of the ball he called home. "I'll walk there." And proceeded to walk on his hands.

Knuckles laid the flotation ring on top of him. "It's a start."

"Let's go," he walked out of the room with Knuckles close behind.

Sticks looked at Amy out of the corner of her eye. She pointed her remote at Amy's stomach.

"...really?" Amy said skeptically.

"Can never be too safe," she said and put the device away.

"Nope. Can't do it! Bail! I'm bailing!" Sonic ran back into the room and hid under Amy's skirt then pulled his arms back in.

"What happened?" She asked, trying to hold her skirt down a little. "You were doing so good."

Knuckles came back into the room, "He heard a fish jump." He picked up Sonic and carried him. "We're not missing this." They left the room again.

"Really sorry, Knuckles. I'm trying to relax but it's not happening." He didn't want to admit it, but he was cramped in his current form.

"Phobia's are hard to deal with. Maybe meeting new people will help." He knocked on the door.

Chopper opened and a pile of smoke bellowed out from behind him. "Knuckles! Glad you could make it. Oh, and you brought a beach ball." Upon closer inspection, "My bad; hi, Sonic."

"H-hey," he said, muffled and deflated.

"Come on in," the friendly emu said and closed the door behind them. Chopper addressed the room. "This is the guy I told you all about." They were greeted warmly. "And this is his friend, Sonic, who's...not doing the best."

"Dis one is riddled wit unrest," a black bird with two long tail feathers walked up alongside Sonic and held her hands above him. "Your aura is pale." She had a thick foreign accent.

"Does that mean nauseous? Pretty sure that's what that means." Sonic said.

"Much deeper than dat," she said and motioned for Knuckles to put him down. "I may be able to help."

"If you can get rid of hydrophobia, I'm all ears. And spikes. Ears and spikes."

"We should let Jami work her magic, come Knuckles," Chopper said and led him to the hookah circle.

"Ah, neat," he said and looked at the wine coloured, vase like apparatus. "I always see these in the movies but never know what they were called." He sat down.

"It's a hookah; used to vaporize herbs rather than burning them. Less harmful than smoking. You're free to have some," he said and brought Knuckles a beer. "This is homemade."

"Thanks," Knuckles popped the bottle and took a swig, "Heh, breaking all my rules tonight." He looked over to Sonic who was being 'smudged' by the bird lady while two others helped; one sang and fanned smoke, the other chimed a low key bell. "Doing great, bro!"

"Tell us about yourself, Knuckles," the kangaroo dude sitting across from him asked.

"Not much to tell. I was born on Angle Island, then I moved to Seaside Island. We battle an old guy named Dr. Eggman, he loses a lot because his robots suck, but keeps coming back for more. Hmm, to be honest, apart from working out, I don't do a whole lot more," he said and took a drink, "Oh, and I'm teaching myself how to cook. Don't want to brag, but I've mastered the casserole."

"Keeping busy, I like it," he said. "And Chopper said you think you're all alone?"

"Yes, Buck, but not anymore. I told him about Kline and Lin-Ru's newborn."

"I still think it's wild you guys lay eggs."

"I can lay eggs?!" Knuckles exclaimed.

Buck laughed. "Females lay eggs, ya nut," he said and handed the hookah hose to Knuckles.

"Aha, right." He looked at the tube in hand, "Just breathe in?"

"Slow and steady," Chopper took up a lotus pose and sat next to Knuckles.

With a slow steady breath he took a hit and coughed a lung full of familiar smelling vapour. "Oh, that's s-smooth," he tried to take a drink to cool his throat. It worked. "Wow...hmm," he took a shorter breath and breathed out successfully, vapours surrounded him. "This smells like grandma wolf's glaucoma treatment." He handed the hose to Chopper.

He nodded, "It's good for pain, nausea, anxiety and can even help you fall asleep."

"That sounds amazing, there's just one question I got," he touched his mouth, "Am I suppose to be so aware I have lips right now?" He made a light popping sound with his mouth.

They chuckled, "That's normal," said Chopped and took a hit. "Only the best goes in here. Let me tell you about the first time I met Kline. It was in familiar circumstances." With that he gave him a short anecdote about how Kline and Lin-Ru met through him. "And at the end of the day, if just one of those things didn't happen and Kline chose to stay in, they wouldn't have been together today."

Knuckles finished his drink and blotted a tear from his eye, "That's so sweet."

"No luck wit him so far," Jami said and rolled Sonic to the empty spot next to his friend. "The water demons hold him fast."

"This'll slow them down," Knuckles said and fed the hose into the opening in Sonic's side. "Deep breath buddy."

"You do know what this is, right?" Sonic asked.

"...really good herbs?"

"Eh, you're not wrong. I may die out here, so why not, yolo," he said and breathed deep. He held it in and then as he exhaled, finally unfolding and laying flat on the floor.

"Where spiritual healing fails, herbal medicine comes through," Buck laughed a little and earned himself an eye-roll from Jami.

She laughed with a hum, "I like to tink it's a combination," she said and went back to weaving baskets with the others.

"There he is," Knuckles said and ruffled his stomach.

"Woo, lightheaded," Sonic said as he rubbed his face and sat up. "I'm gonna be a dad..." He curled back up.

"It's like inflating a stubborn tire." Knuckles stuck the hose back in. After round two, Sonic was limber and sitting up on his own.

Chopper and Buck could help but laugh. "First timers?" Buck asked.

"Yep," they both said.

"Glad to have you aboard." Buck handed a beer to Sonic and Knuckles from the nearby cooler. "Here's a cheers to dad's, friends and demons alike." The four of them clinked bottles. The night was finally beginning.

* * *

I had to cut this one in half because I just couldn't fit the whole scene in one chapter.

Teehee, bad to the bone. *throws on shades*


	10. Chapter 10: Something New

Changed the rating to M just to be on the safe side. O_O

Just a little racey. ^_~

* * *

 ** _-Chapter 10: Something New-_**

* * *

Between cards, darts and a jam session, the night was hopping with activity.

Chopper, Buck and Sonic headed up to the deck for a midnight barbecue, leaving Knuckles to speak with the weaving girls. Jami, the swallow tailed humming bird, Pami the Jaguar and Mili the thick tailed gecko all sat and shot the breeze with their new echidna acquaintance.

"And that's when he realized, he lit his own house on fire!" Knuckles finished a story and they laughed.

"I'll give you this Knuckles, you're way more chill than most echidna's I've met," Pami said. "From my knowledge you come from a race of very staunch warriors."

Jami nodded and let her cowl down, revealing a bright green patch on her chest. "Dey're very spiritual folks who embrace tradition in everything they do."

"You said you like cooking," Mili said, "They've got some interesting traditional dishes you should look up when you get to the library."

"How are they interesting?" Knuckles asked.

"Dey use a lot of insects," Jami clarified.

"No way!" Knuckles said with a laugh, "I never told anyone, but I got lost in the woods once and I _had_ to eat something. I found termites and they were pretty good. I don't know why but something told me they'd be safe to eat."

"Instincts," Mili said and flicked her long lizard tail back and forth near Knuckle's nose.

"Hehe, you've got a pretty tail," he said at the appendage being waggled in front of him.

Jami and Pami rose with their finished baskets. "We should bring these to the deck house so the crew has them in da morning."

"Need any help?" Knuckles asked.

"Help stack them," Pami said.

Knuckles counted as he helped stack the baskets the girls had been making all day. "Twenty-two. You three work so fast; I didn't even get one done," he said and held up the half finished basket.

"I'll help you finish," Mili said and wiggled just the tip of her tail at Jami and Pami. Taking the hint, the other two left. "Got a question for you," she said as she got a little closer. "Do you know much about your own biology?"

"Nope. Because I don't know what biology means," he said with a proud, ignorant smile.

She snickered. "Biology is the study of life. Behavioral, physicality or anatomical; it's all biology. Would you like to know more?" she asked and wrapped her tail around the two of them.

"Sure." Knuckles may have been a meat-head, but he knew when he was being flirted with. He blushed. "Anatomical is internal body stuff, right?" He had heard the term anatomical before when Tails spoke about his own anomaly of dual tails.

"Yeah. Because I assume you have a few questions. Have you ever been with anyone? Closely?"

"N-no." He blushed deeper. Knuckles didn't know his own exact age, but he was somewhere in his mid to late twenties and still hadn't 'done it', or anything sexual with a woman before. "I-well..I look different than anything I've seen in books. So I'm not sure if I'm supposed to-uh-have..." He motioned to his junk.

"Four heads," she said knowingly.

"Yeah!" He said with a finger snap, "T-that's normal?"

"Completely," she said and put a hand on his leg. "I could teach you some things. As a one time lesson, you know, to prepare you for when you meet a lady echidna." She slid a finger up and down his chest.

"That wouldn't be a bad idea," he said and allowed the intrusion. He laid back and the muscular gecko got to work. It felt amazing. "That tongue of yours is something else," he said through a bit of heavy breathing.

Knuckles anatomy lesson was interrupted when his communicator beeped and Sonic's voice came over the intercom, ' _Grub's up, bro,_ ' he said.

"Give me like, five more minutes," he said and quickly shut off the line.

After 'arriving', Mili gave him a peck on the cheek, "How was that? Learn anything?"

"All kinds, thanks," he said with a smirk. He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and got up to hear a low grumble. He held his stomach. "Heh, food now?"

She nodded, "Food now," and helped him to his feet.

They joined the others on the deck. Knuckles saw a sight he thought he would never see.

Leaning off the edge of the boat, "Fuck you, ocean!" Sonic yelled and flipped off the water while Buck held him from falling overboard.

Knuckles lost his mind laughing. "It looks like you've conquered your fear."

"Hell yeah!" Sonic said and flipped Knuckles off, "Oh, no, not that one," he said and put his middle finger down only to raise his thumb in it's place, "This is the one I meant." He reestablished his 'thumbs up', "Hell yeah!"

When the laughter subsided all that was left was friendly chatter, the smell of roasting meats and a cool ocean breeze. The fear demons were vanquished.

* * *

Rollin rollin rollin. ;D


	11. Chapter 11: Good Morning Sunshine

I thought I posted this already. Oops.

Here we go.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 11: Good Morning Sunshine-**_

* * *

Losing track of time they partied the night away. When Sonic finally thought to check the time again it was past three in the morning. "Knucks, the sun's gonna be up soon," Sonic said to a quickly fading Knuckles.

"That's okay, I'll do it in the morning," he said and shut his eyes while he hugged the arm of the couch.

"You two can stay if you want," Jami offered.

Sonic shook his head. "I apprec'ate the offer, but I gotta get back to my gir'friend. She's pregnant. I gotta be there for her in the morning." Sonic had a hard time keeping track of his feet let alone his responsibilities.

"Let me help you get him up," she said and assisted Knuckles to his feet.

"U'm good, I'm good," he said with a slur.

"Sure you are, bro." Sonic flopped Knuckles arm around his shoulder and Jami led them out the door. "Thank you all are lovely, thanks, goo'night." Everyone said their goodbye's and closed the door behind Sonic and his semiconscious friend.

"Blind leading the blind," Jami said.

As Sonic led the two of them back to their quarters, Knuckles said, "It's so cool tha yer gonna be a daddy, and some day, I can maybe be one too now. I think you'll be a great dad."

"We were worried about telling you, so we got on the boat to tell you, to let you know, to meet if we found-" Sonic stopped to laugh at his own jumbled speech, "So we could find other echidnas for you to meet! There, I said it."

"This trip was for me?" he said and hugged Sonic, nearly knocking them both over. "You're such a good friend! And I think you're gonna be a great dad too, did I ever tell you that?"

Sonic laughed, "You did now."

"Good. Cuz I think you're great."

They finally made it to the door. "Okay, we gotta be quiet."

"I gotta be quiet? YOU gotta be quiet," Knuckles protested.

"Exactly and I have to be quiet too."

"Oh, right on, now shh," he said and followed Sonic in.

None of what they did was quiet. When Knuckles closed the door he slipped to the side and fell into an end table, knocking it over. When Sonic went over to go help him, he kicked whatever fell off the table and it flew across the room and knocked something else over with a loud clang. All of this was followed up by giddy chortling.

A light clicked on and three tired sets of eyes looked at them. Both Sonic and Knuckles held a finger up to their mouth and said, "Shhh."

Finally making it to their designated beds, the lights were out again.

Morning came quickly. Sonic painfully opened his eyes. "When did I get here?" He looked around. Amy was nowhere to be found, neither was anyone else. He looked at the door to see sticky notes. With a heavy feeling all over he got up and read them. The one on the bottom said 'We're getting breakfast at the galley, come find us.' the next one read, 'Done with breakfast, going to watch a movie in the viewing room' the last said 'Just checked on you, glad you're not dead. We'll be in the lower deck for lunch.'

"What time is it?" He checked; it was noon and a quarter. "How long did I sleep?" He shuffled his way downstairs as the slowest thing half-alive.

"Glad to see you're still kicking," Tails said as his friend approached and flopped down at the table. "Looks like you conquered your fears. You're walking around normally."

Sonic rested his head on the table, "There's nothing normal about the way I feel right now, Tails."

He chuckled, "I bet. Knuckles said you two had a hell of a time last night."

"True. I don't even remember coming home."

"I guess that means you don't remember making a ton of noise when you came in."

He grimaced, "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you're paying for it now."

Sonic groaned.

"There's my soused blue love," Amy said as her and Sticks brought sandwiches and drinks to the table. "How are you feeling?" she said sympathetically and laid a hand on his back. "I can feel your pulse from here...and you're warm."

"Yeah. Sorry about staying out so late and not getting up with you in the morning."

They took their seats. "I felt fine this morning. Just don't make a habit out of it."

"Can do." He lifted his head. "Where's Knuckles?"

Sticks was fiddling with her device and scanned Sonic, "He's upstairs, learning to make bread," she said as her device beeped. "You're giving off a weird signature. Why?"

Sonic did remember getting a 'smudge' from the girls. He gave in because there was no way out; listening to Sticks scream about aliens was going to be too much to handle. "You see, Sticks, my fear of water came from water demons. And thanks to our new friends, I now have a magical aura protecting me."

Amy and Tails looked at him in disbelief while Sticks nodded knowingly, "Smart move," she said and dug into her delicious sandwich.

Sonic tried to reach for the sandwich Amy placed in front of him. He managed to reach it and laid there with a single hand on his food.

"Now you pick it up and bring it to your mouth," Amy said and waited. No movement. "Need help?" They snickered.

"Almost there," he said and it slid a little closer to him. "...little further."

Today was already shaped up to be a long, long day. Sonic was grateful it was the last day on the boat.


	12. Chapter 12: In an Ocean of Peace

Time for a plot building serious chapter. o.o

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 12: In an Ocean of Peace-**_

* * *

After eating, Sonic slept the most of the day and night away. He woke up in the middle of the evening and snuck out of their cabin. He walked the length of the boat and back again trying to tire himself out. With no luck he decided to see what was going on downstairs. "Whole lot of nothing." He headed back to the deck and sat with his legs over the front of the ship. He looked down at the water. "...this isn't too bad."

"Burning the midnight oil?" Jami said as she approached Sonic. She joined him in sitting.

"Kind of. I slept most of the day and I can't get back to sleep. I'll just stay up until bedtime today and I'll be straightened out."

"I know how you're feeling. We're all still reeling from the time change. For us right now, it's the middle of the afternoon."

"Where are you from?"

Jami pulled out a small map and pointed to a land Sonic had never seen before. "We've been on this boat for over a week. We help out with chores and make baskets to sell to pay our way."

"Resourceful." Sonic nodded. "Where you heading?"

"Far away. No going back. There's no peace where we hail from," she pulled her cowl tight.

Sonic nodded, "Do you guys need any help?"

She huffed and said, "If only," and smiled.

"We're pretty strong. We've spent nearly half our lives fighting robots and other evil inventions by a crazed doctor."

"Is that so?" She gave it a moment to percolate.

"What's happening back at your home exactly?"

"Civil war," Jami said.

"Oh," not the answer he was expecting.

She stared off into the distance. "It's not as simple as showing up and crushing a few robots. It's a deeper problem with the people themselves. Unless you're well versed in politics and religion, there's not much you can help with."

Sonic thought aloud, "The last time one of us got political power it wasn't good. Knuckles got to be mayor and ended up signing three building permits for the same land. Caused a lot of trouble; and it was only for a day."

"Exactly," she said with a rueful chuckle, "All it takes is one person to make the system crumble, but dozens to set it back in place." She pat Sonic's shoulder. "I appreciate the offer all the same."

They chatted until the sun was up. Jami let him know all about where the five of them were from. It was different from all the places they'd travelled to over the last week; peace was all around them. She said there were plenty of places to live besides the home they grew up in.

"Huh, the sunrise looks cool over the ocean like this." He'd seen it from a beach plenty of times, but the different perspective he now had was interesting.

"The sunrise isn't the only thing on the horizon," she said and pointed to a little blur in the distance.

"Is it land?" Sonic got up and leaned over the edge. He let out an excited, "WOO-HOO! Land ho!" and bolted off to get the others up. He bolted back only a half second later, "I do want to ask...is it worth fighting for? Your home, I mean."

She swiftly nodded.

"Then we should fight anyway. We'll learn what we can when we land and make a plan of action." He dumbfounded the black and green bird, "Hearing you talk about your home made me realize how lucky _we_ are. Eggman may be a pain in the ass, but civil war, prisoners of war, protesters being shot in the streets, and famine; I can't sit and do nothing."

"It's not your home and not your fight. Besides, we did less than nothing, we ran."

Sonic made a fist, "You ran to get help, you just didn't know it when you left. It's only a matter of time before that sort of thing spreads and infects surrounding regions. If we don't help you now, it's like I'm saying it's okay it's happening to you just because it's not happening to me. I'll help you in any way possible. I'm sure the others will agree."

Jami stood up, "That's a good point. But you're expecting a child."

"Amy won't be pregnant forever. And I'm sure she'd be on the same page. Let me talk to everyone."

"A noble promise. I pray something come's of it," she clasped her hands together.

Sonic brought news to the others. The fire had been lit under them all.

"I can find some books on local news, policies and laws and see where this is all coming from," Tails said.

"I'll look up mercenary tactics so we won't be caught off guard," Sticks added.

"I'll learn about the religions in the area and see how it interplays in their society," Amy said and rested a hand on her belly, "I can't fight for a while, but I can offer research."

Knuckles hit his two fists together, "I'll keep working out and you just point me in the right direction, I'll smash what you need me to smash."

"And I'll keep meeting with folks and grow our forces. We'll make an army of our own freedom fighters." Sonic had all the faith for his crew. "We got this."

* * *

Just when you thought there would be no conflict, BAM, there it is. ;D


	13. Chapter 13: Meet the City

I stuffed as many references in here as I could. See how many you can get. XD

Some are older than others and may not be as relevant today. I left a list at the end of the chapter for y'all, just in case.

Peace out. :D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 13: Meet the City-**_

* * *

Chopper and the others gave Sonic the location of a free campsite for travellers. Instead of staying at a hotel, they opted for free accommodations and one free meal a day. "This really saves on the budget, thanks," Sonic shook his hand.

Tails recalculated their spending. "Yeah. With this much, we can stay a lot longer than I originally thought."

"Great," Chopper said. "We'll meet back up with you guys tonight." The two groups waved and parted ways.

The crowded city had everything imaginable. Vendors and small shops lined the road they were on with no end in sight. The only thing with wheels available were a few rickshaws.

"This is way bigger than I expected," Knuckles said as he looked at a building comparable to Eggman's fortress; it was grossly out of place with all the little shops. "Is that an evil lair?"

Tails looked at the sign out front and said, "It's an office building for an insurance company; and a Mobibuckz Coffee is on the first floor."

Sticks rolled her eyes, "You couldda' just said 'yes'."

They walked down the main road and took in the various stores and kiosk's the bustling city had to offer. They passed by an open storefront with a sign that said, "Blob's Burgers," Amy read and found it on the map she picked up before disembarking. "The name doesn't sound very appetizing; but it's best not to judge a book by it's cover." They noticed the store was run by a blobfish and his family.

A bearded father figure stood at the front counter. "I need one more burger of the day," he yelled into the kitchen. The man took notice of Sonic and the others. "Lewis, Jane, Tony! Heads up, party of five."

"What?! Is Mr. Wolf with them?! I want an autograph," the only girl in the family said from the grill out back.

"Wrong party of five, Jane."

"Ooh, Blob, they look like out of towners," his wife said as she came out of the kitchen holding a tray of food.

"Of course, Kim. Who else needs a map of the main road?" he said with a chuckle. "Come on in, sit and stay a while. Try our burger of the day: 'I Can't Brie-lieve It'."

"I like em already," Sonic said as the five gave a nod to one another.

After a solid meal of brie topped burgers, they were off once again.

They passed what appeared to be a town crier, named Jason Duckman, handing out flyers for his free nightly seminar. "Don't let the stuffed suit, pompous, cigar chewing fat cats pull you into their life draining, blood-money soaked tactics! It's a sham! We know where the money's going! We can follow the paper trail! An-" his words were cut short by Sticks. She stood cross-armed and angry in front of him. "Uh...here you go?" he said and held out a flyer as his glasses slipped down his bill.

She ripped it from his hand and pointed a finger in his face, "...I like you," she said and walked off.

He swooshed back his red hair and straightened his glasses, "Anything for the ladies...WAKE UP PEOPLE!" He went right back to work.

Further down the street, away from the deranged duck, they found a musical performance of two young rodents. The current song was 'Gold Operated Boys'. When they finished with their set they addressed the crowd, "Thank you all for coming. Don't forget you can buy your 'Desman Dolls' merch after every show. Our first CD is on sale now."

"They're pretty good." Knuckles went up and bought their self titled album.

Once again, the group was off.

They passed by a flower shop. "We've got to stop here," Amy said as she breathed in a bunch of sweet smelling bouquets. "I wonder if they have seeds for sale." Amy walked up to the cashier. "Hi, I was looking for morning glory and mum seeds, and some lily bulbs."

The pure white cat nodded and pointed to a display off to the side, "We should have all of those in stock right there," she said as the phone rang. The young cat answered with a smile, "Hello-hello, Kitty speaking."

Amy made her purchase and left.

They continued their journey and ended up passing a park. A group of grey puppies, possibly siblings, played the board game of 'Evidence'. "I can't figure out these clues," one of them said. "I have all three and I'm still gonna lose."

"Don't be so blue about it," another said.

The five kept walking. The next stop was the library. The building was six stories high and was as wide as it was tall. "Just like I remember it," Tails said and turned to the others, expecting the same level of enthusiasm but was met with wide eyes of fear.

"This place is huge," Sonic said.

"It's gigantic!" Sticks said.

"We could get lost in this," Amy said.

"I'm SO glad I can't read," said Knuckles.

Tails laughed. "Don't worry. There's only a small section for each of us to go over. We don't have to skim the whole place. Follow me," he said and guided them into the main foyer. The ceiling was all the way to the roof and each floor was lined with a hardwood banister to look over.

A llama sat at the single desk in the middle of the large corridor. He stamped book after book before he placed them in a cart. "What do you want?" he asked abruptly.

Tails laid his hands on the desk and leaned over, "We need-"

"Don't touch the desk!" he said, stern but quiet. Tails removed his hands and watched the llama straighten the sign saying, 'Hands off the desk'. "This desk is made of mahogany. It's very expensive."

"Sorry," Tails said, "We need the reference section that has books of family trees in it."

"Mr. King," a sheep said from behind him, "Here's the ink pads you needed."

The llama took them in hand and shooed away the employee. "It's locked. The guy with the key won't be in until tonight. Not sure when."

It was then Amy's turn, "Where do I return books?" She still had the book Chopper gave her.

He looked at her with a bemused glance, "Do I really need to tell you?"

Amy had met nothing but kind folk up until that point and wanted to be patient with him. "Yes. If you don't tell me, I'll have to flip this desk and shove it down your throat." But that didn't matter, she didn't want any of his attitude.

The llama looked surprised and gave her a chuckle, "You can either give it to me here, or you can use the drop slot on the outside after hours. If that's not good enough for you, miss, I can stamp your book so you can rent it out again so you can shove it up your-"

"Okay!" Sonic pushed Amy along and said, "That's great, thanks." Sonic handed the book to him and they went on their merry way.

"The nerve," she said as they took up residence in a section Tails needed.

"Some people have no patience," Knuckles said and earned a glare from Amy. Knuckles looked afraid, "I meant _that_ guy."

She diffused, "I don't know why that bothered me so much; abuse of power shouldn't sit well with anyone."

"I agree," Sticks said as she opened a trebuchet blueprint. "I'm working on it, right now."

"You can't attack the head librarian with medieval contraptions, Sticks," Amy chuckled.

"Attack? Nah. He'd be ammunition," she said and pointed to the ballistics's projectile. "We'll just sneak up on him in the 'Trojan Jackalope' I'm designing," she said and held up her own medieval device.

Tails brought out a stack of books and laid them down on the table. "Reading now. Desecration later."

Everyone groaned an 'okay'.

* * *

For those of you who aren't a billion years old, the references were...

...

Starbucks (coffee shop[the one in this town _isn't_ fair trade])  
Bob's burgers (western cartoon)  
Party of Five (western TV drama)  
Duckman (western cartoon)  
Dresden Dolls (band)  
Hello Kitty (anime)  
Clue (board game)  
Blue's Clues (western kids show)  
King Yemma (character from DBZ, specifically from the abridged version)  
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (movie)

After the gloom of the past chapter, I needed some more lulz in here.


	14. Chapter 14: Think Like an Echidna 2

I reworked the title to fit a story that didn't _just_ focus on Knuckles. However, Knuckles-centric chapters I'm going to name as the first working title of my story.

Anyhoo, sorry for the delay. Life is busy, busy, busy.

Enjoy.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 14: Think Like an Echidna 2-**_

* * *

Knuckles left the 'book types' to their business and went off to explore the town. Stuck inside reading wasn't his bag when there were so many sights and smells to take in. He went back to the big road they started out on and wandered through a few relatively quiet side streets.

A small pizza shop gave off the aroma of fresh crusts and sizzling toppings. Knuckles followed his nose. The shop was in the middle of a rush and it's employee's buzzed around trying to stay on top of things. The owner threw dough in the air and stretched it into a round shape.

"Hey," Knuckles said as he approached with a friendly wave.

The black and white cat looked distraught. "Listen, buddy, really sorry, but it's gonna be an hour long wait for pizza; unless you want a slice." He pointed to a case of somewhat dry pre-made pizza's.

"I was actually wondering if you were looking for any help. I'm trying to earn a bit of cash while I'm in town."

The owner lit up, "Seriously? I can't pay you much."

"That's fine. Heck, you can pay me with food if it's easier."

The owner introduced himself as Mac and proceeded to show Knuckles how to prepare the dough and where to send it for toppings. "Just remember to use your knuckles to stretch it. Your palms will heat up the dough too much."

With a proud thumb in the middle of his chest Knuckles said, "'Knuckles' is my middle name."

"I thought you said it was your first name," the owner joked and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"It might be, I honestly don't know. I never met another echidna before to tell me otherwise. My name may be Knuckles Knuckles Echidna." he said as he mimicked Mac actions.

"Really now? Knuckles _is_ an odd name for an echidna to have."

"Is it? Do you know many echidna's?" Knuckles asked as he tossed the dough flawlessly.

He nodded, "A few. My head chef is one of them." He pointed to the kitchen where another like Knuckles briefly waved and kept working. "When we're done for the day you should talk to him."

Though the day was busy Knuckles managed to talk to the chef through the kitchen window every now and then. Any big questions or conversations had to wait because the man in question was working a grill, fryer and stove top all at once. At the end of the day the chef, Re'kar, had to run out the door. "Will you be in town tomorrow?" he asked Knuckles as he gathered a few things.

"Sure am," he replied and continued his dough work.

"My family is having a get together tomorrow night around six; you're welcome to come. Get Mac to give you my address. We'll get you familiar with a few traditions and we'll even give you a tat to mark your transition into your culture. It's hard to explain, we'll talk tomorrow," he said and picked up a duffle bag, "See ya when I see ya."

He waved and Re'kar was gone. "Tat?" Knuckles repeated.

"Tattoo," Mac said, "I just noticed you don't have any. Usually women echidnas don't have tattoos, but the men will be covered."

"I honestly never gave it any thought." He looked at his arms and pondered how he'd be marked up.

After a solid day of baking he was offered a full time job. Knuckles told Mac that he'd only be in town a week but would be really happy to come back again until then. Mac gave Knuckles a bit of pocket money, a fresh slice of pizza and sheet of paper with a schedule and Re'kar's address on it. "This is our busiest week. You don't know how much of a lifesaver you are."

After goodbyes, Knuckles left the restaurant. "Hmm, I spent time learning to count...but I don't know what the numbers look like. Well, damn." He chuckled to himself as he tucked the paper into his glove for safe keeping.

On the way back to the library he passed by a mechanic shop. Inside, a young mechanic struggled to lift something. "Need some help there, friend?" he asked and walked into the open garage.

"It's not heavy, it's awkward," a strained female voice said. They had a bandanna covering their head and goggles over their eyes. The small but heavy engine block teetered on the edge of a compact car.

"It's just like moving a futon," he said. Knuckles took his gloves off and laid them to the side to grab the greasy engine. With their combine strength the block was situated in the right spot. He extended a hand, "I'm Knuckles," he paused and looked at the black marks on his palms.

The girl removed her own gloves, grabbed a cleaning wipe from the bench and handed it to him. She smirked as Knuckles cleaned up and re-extended his hand to her. "I'm Julie-Su," she said and completed the other half of the greeting.

When their hands touched Knuckles felt a spark between them. An overwhelming feeling came over him and he had no clue how to respond. He stood there stuttering.

Julie-Su raised her goggles and stared at his eyes. She felt the same thing, "No way...it...soultouch," she said and looked at her hand, checking to see if sparks were actually flying from it.

They let go.

"You're an echidna, too?" he stammered.

"Yes."

"And you aren't red?" His speech was speeding up.

"No."

"Are you busy tomorrow?"

"A little."

"How much is a little? Can you not be busy at six?"

"I'm off at four tomorrow."

"Awesome!" Knuckles spoke as fast as he could, "I never met a female echidna and you're the first and I don't know this feeling but it feels like I need to talk to you more and would you come to dinner with me and some other echidnas I just met to introduce me to our culture because apparently there's more to it than I thought-" he was cut off.

Julie-Su placed a finger over his lips, "I'll go."

Knuckles heart was pounding and he was lightheaded from unsteady breathing. "Is meeting girls always this intense? I've met girls before, it never felt like this."

"I think this is different." She shook her head and handed him his gloves. "I'll have to explain it tomorrow. I really need to finish this." She pointed to the car next to them.

"Alright then. Seems like a lot of stuff needs to be explained. I got a lot to learn." He took his leave with a hand held over his heart to make sure it didn't jump away.

Moments later a voice chimed in. "What's this? Chilly Julie-Su had sparkles in her eyes?" A cat co-worker taunted. "And I was convinced you weren't into dudes."

"I told you before, it's not the same for us, Tabby."

She rolled her eyes, "That 'echidna's have soul link' thing? Come on, you can't be serious. Buddy looked like a waif," she snickered.

Julie-Su shot a glare that made Tabby's tail fluff out, "You complain about me being cold and unfeeling but as soon as I try to get out there, I'm met with ridicule? Ha, jealousy doesn't look good on you." Julie-Su knew her coworker had a thing for muscular men. "I know your game. Trust me, nothing beats a soultouch."

"Whatever," she said and went back to welding.

A few moments later another voice resonated from beneath another car, "Do you remember that dream you told me about?"

"Really, Jo?" Tabby asked. "Not you too."

Julie-Su rolled her eyes at Tabby and went back to speaking with Jo. "Yes. I keep having it."

"You said you met a guy who had no tattoos," they began.

"And I said that's dumb," Tabby interrupted, "Lots of people don't have tattoos. The chances of you meeting one are really high."

"But!" Jo said loudly, "You said you gave him his first tattoo in your dream. Maybe that's what'll happen tomorrow."

Tabby raised a finger. "Suggesting it to him doesn't count."

Julie-Su blushed with gritted teeth. "You know what?" She went over to a desk, grabbed a piece of paper and pencil and began to sketch something. She tore the first few sheets off the pad she drew on, folded them and placed it all into an envelope. "You can't even see the outline on the sheets behind it." After sealing the letter she handed it to Tabby. "Open this when you see Knuckles next."

Tabby was skeptical, "...how do I know this isn't staged?"

She pointed at the paper in Tabby's hand, "I saw that in my dream. It doesn't exist anywhere else. If it matches him, then you know I'm real."

Jo could barely contain their excitement, "What if it's different? What will that mean?"

Julie-Su shook her head, "It won't be wrong. It'll mean I've been honest this whole time." She smiled warmly. For the first time in years she felt hopeful again.

* * *

Now...I've never read anything with Julie-Su in it, so I'm just going off a few comics I saw online. She comes across to me as a 'don't take no guff' kind of gal. I hope I can do her justice.


	15. Chapter 15: People and Politics

This one's a bit wordy, but necessary to set the stage.

Enjoy.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 15: People and Politics-**_

* * *

Knuckles finally reached the library. Tails stood out front eating a sandwich wrap. "Wha'cha got there?"

Tails promptly swallowed the bite and his eyes nearly rolled back in his head. "Chicken shawarma wrap. It's chicken with ginger, garlic and other spices and there's these pink pickled turnips on it and it's...making me not want to move back home. I wish we had food like this on the island." He extended the last couple bites to Knuckles. "Wanna try. You can have the last of it."

"I'll give it a shot," he said and popped the morsel. His eyes went wide open.

"See?!" Tails saw his friend's please expression.

"Hell yeah! At the very least we have to get a recipe to take back with us," he said with a mouthful. "If I opened a restaurant with this on the menu, I'd put Meh Burger out of business." He smacked his lips. "I'm really glad we made this trip. Today's been awesome."

Tails scratched the back of his head, "I'm really glad _one_ of us got good news today."

"How so?"

He motioned for Knuckles to follow him back into the library. "We found out some information that, for a lack of better words 'sucks in every way possible'." Tails pulled out a chair for Knuckles to sit in. "Alright...let's start with the location: Loa River City, the country of Gia'kum's capital." Tails flattened a map over the table for everyone to see. "It's got the longest and widest river in the world and it's also a port town due to it's closeness to the sea. For the last 150 years, it's been in turmoil. Only within the last 80 years was slavery of the local people was abolished via violent rebellions. Great, but not really. Since then, about the last 50 years, they've introduced democracy, kinda, sorta."

Knuckles raised a hand, "What does that mean? Domo'car'cy?" He attempted to pronounce.

Amy filled in the gap, "A democratic system, or democracy, is where people get to vote. Candidates run in an election process and if they have a plan the people like, the people vote for that person and they get to be in charge."

"That seems fair," Knuckles said.

Sonic scoffed, "Not when there's a gun to your head and you're forced to vote for who they tell you to."

"And there's only one candidate running most times," Tails added. "Generally, if another person in the running does too well while campaigning, they die of mysterious circumstances. The most recent was a woman by the name of Lora Crane. She and her son were murdered for being socialists."

Knuckles raised a hand again, "Socialist?"

Tails said, "A Socialist is someone who believes the people should pay taxes relative to what they earn to help fund public services like healthcare and schools, and the government takes responsibility for maintaining the balance of the economy and those services. In fact, we're socialists."

"I see." Knuckles looked like he was absorbing it all.

Tails continued. "The opposite of socialism is capitalism. Basically in capitalism, things like healthcare and schools are run by a business with private owners, not by the government. The government doesn't regulate it much, if at all. In a perfect world, both work fine, but this is an instance where it didn't. Capitalism rules the country and no one can say otherwise. A man by the name of Duchad has been in charge of the country for three years now. He's got his hand in the pocket of big business so that's where his support comes from."

Sticks slammed the paper she got from the mad duck down on the table. "This guy right here was calling them out on it. The government here is selling weapons to Loa River and turning a blind eye because of trade agreements and to keep them boxed in. It's all money!"

"Settle down," Amy said, "The whole point of this meeting is to stop the fighting, not to do more of it."

Tails nodded, "It's like trying to put out a fire by throwing matches at it."

"I know," she said and folded her arms, "I get so worked up, it's hard to think straight."

"That brings me to my next point: Religion. The church is the biggest monetary contributor." Tails counted on his fingers, "Because of them, pre-marital sex is illegal, being gay is illegal, no one is prosecuted for rape crimes, abortion is illegal, drugs and alcohol are all illegal, uh, what else? Not going to church isn't illegal but frowned upon. I think that's about it for them."

Sonic chimed in, "Then the military adds to the mess: You need a license to drive _anything_ with two wheels or more, you need a license to own a television, radio or telephone, slash, communication device," he said and held up the arm wearing his communicator. "Military enrollment is mandatory for a minimum of five years and if you break the law in any way, that number is doubled."

Amy broke the gloom, "But on the other hand the military pays for your school after you're done serving. What most people end up doing is serving their term, getting educated and then they save money to get out. The population has been in steady decline over the last fifty years, so the job market is failing. And there was a sharp drop in the population in the last ten years."

Knuckles nodded, "That's where Chopper and the others came from? That's insanity."

Sonic nodded, "And the worst of it all is...you know how we haven't heard much of Eggman in the last while? I think I know why." Sonic laid out a newspaper he got in the lobby. "Right here it mentions a bureaucrat getting a large sum of money from a wealthy individual living offshore somewhere."

"We don't know that for sure though." Amy said.

"We do know that he's making a lot of money through crypto currencies. That day at Meh Burger he bragged about 'Making a killing off of Bit-Ring'. Maybe he meant that a little more literally than we originally thought."

Sticks nodded, "Bank your money with overseas folk so no one notices. Build your army. Make powerful connections. Come back to crush us."

"I hate to say it," Tails cracked his neck from all the stressful reading, "But Sticks may be right. It's only a matter of time before this fight is at our doorstep. Whether this was our battle from the start or not, it looks like it's about to _become_ our fight."

"I feel kinda bad now." Knuckles took it all in. "I had such a good day and you guys had to sit around here and get the worst news possible."

Amy tapped her hand on the table. "Don't let it get you too down. Yes, it does look pretty abysmal right now, but this has been going on for a long time. Just because all this is happening doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to be happy in our own lives. As happy people, we can help change things and do our best to spread peace to people who need it most."

"Cheesy, but correct," Sonic said. "How _did_ your day go?" He checked his watch and it was nearly closing time for the library. "Wow, it's late."

"I worked at a pizza shop most of the day, I met another echidna there named Re'kar and he invited me to supper at his place tomorrow. I even have someone I'm bringing along as a date." He neglected to mention the odd sensation he felt with Julie-Su. "I also might be getting a tattoo while I'm there." Everyone was wide eyed. "My day went way differently than yours."

"Apparently," Tails chuckled. "That's fine though. Going to a dinner party sounds like a great way to get to know people from the area."

"Yeah," Sonic said and poked the table with a finger. "Bump a few elbows with the locals and get some info from closer to home."

"Re'kar said he had people coming from out of town too."

"Even better." Sonic stood up and waved to the passing head librarian. "Now all we need is that key."

Mr. King approached the table. "What is it?"

"This fff-guy," Amy contained herself.

"Did that employee show up with the key yet?" Sonic asked.

The llama looked like he just then remembered something, "Right. He called in a few hours ago. He has food poisoning and doesn't know when he'll be in. Possibly tomorrow, maybe the next day, then there's the holiday after that and we're closed...you may need to wait a while."

"That's it!" Amy yelled and pulled out her hammer. "Where's the door?!" She pointed the device in his face.

"T-That! Y-you..." He poked the hammer to check it's weight. "...you're inordinately strong."

"And mad! And pregnant! And mad!" Her eye twitched. The others didn't dare to stop her.

The librarian led them to the door in question and it clicked open. "How about that." His face went pale. "H-he forgot to lock it...now I have to go to his house and then come back to lock it. I'm inconvenienced by this too you know." He shakily extended an arm to greet them in. "We're open for another hour, but you can stay as long as you want. The doors will lock behind you." He quickly shuffled off. ' _If that's what she can do, I couldn't imaging what the big guy's capable of_ ,' he thought and shook off a shiver.

"You're so kind," Amy curtsied and entered the reference room. "After me," she said sweetly and collapsed her hammer to pocket size. Sticks, Sonic and Knuckles waited in the hall.

"Fortunately they catalogue these by species," Tails went to the 'E' section.

Amy went to the opposite end in search of something for herself.

"Here we go." Tails popped out five small folders that were stuffed and bulging. "We'll take these along for tonight and bring them back tomorrow." He noticed Amy with two folders of her own. "What are those?"

They left the room and shut the door behind them. Amy held two large full folders. "Something I read today got me thinking. I don't want to say I'm certain, but I think our friends may not have been totally honest about who they are and where they all came from. Nothing bad," she said and placed the material in her bag. "But I need to find out for sure." She held a finger up to her lips. "You never know who's listening."

"Ooh, spooky," Knuckles said and looked up to the high ceiling.

The group headed to the campsite for travellers that Chopper told them about.

* * *

Amy's a little 'mood-swingy' right now. XD


	16. Chapter 16: Getting Around

I'm back in the swing of things. Next chapter. :D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 16: Getting Around-**_

* * *

After they arrived at camp, Chopper showed them to where they'd be sleeping. It was only a couple tents away from their own. Each tent had four cot's and an optional hammock hookup to sleep in.

The sun went down. Everyone gathered around the big campfire to eat and talk to the newcomers about their findings. Chopper and the others nodded to every word they heard. "It's all true," he said, "The only things I think you missed were not being able to marry someone who isn't of your own species and our 8PM curfew."

Buck added, "And they're trying to get closed circuit television. If the people have a media blackout of outside news sources, the government can control everything they see and affect the vote that way too. That fucking Duchad, binturong, cunt," he said and spat.

"Language, please. And let's not bring race into this," Chopper requested.

Buck nodded and lit up a smoke. "Sorry, I know, I know. After getting here and seeing how much better it is, I want to go back and toss a match over my shoulder. That place can burn for all I care."

"How about we start fresh in the morning," Jami suggested.

"I think that's a wonderful idea," Amy said as she looked around the communal fire. She wanted to go over the notes she took back but the crowd was too big. "Finally getting to sleep in a bed that isn't constantly moving will be a nice change. We'll feel better in the morning." After making it to the tent she pulled out the files and within the hour, confirmed her idea. "I called it," she said quietly to herself as she snuck into bed with Sonic.

Sadly, Amy was the only one who didn't feel good in the morning. The morning sickness was back. She clung to a bucket. "I take it back. I want to be on the boat. They had bathrooms," she said through dry heaves and pats on the back from a concerned Sonic.

"Hang in there. Knuckles and Tails went to get boiled water and some food," Sticks said from the opposite side of the tent. "We'll get that tea in you soon."

She couldn't wait to tell her news. "I need you guys to keep this quiet. It _was_ her," Amy said, "I was right."

Sonic leaned down, "About what? Who?"

Amy spoke through retching. "Jami. She's not just some random. Person running away. She's from a big family. Chopper is her brother."

Sonic was intrigued, however, "Maybe we should talk about this later? You seem a little busy."

"No time. They're going to be looking for them. Jami is the last member of the last ruling class family. She's a queen, Sonic. Chopper is second in line."

"You know that because of the files?" he asked.

"Yes. They're family records tell it all."

Tails rushed back in the tent. "There was a fire at the library!"

Sonic sighed. "Sometimes I hate comedic timing." He ran past him as fast as he could go.

Tails walked over to Amy and took Sonic's place in comforting her.

Sonic returned in under a minute. "Just like that, the record room and the right wing of the building is totaled."

"There is a conspiracy! Finally," Sticks said with excitement and grabbed her strange remote device.

"I told you that I was on to something." Amy finally caught her breath. "These records prove their linage. I bet someone tried to destroy them knowing we were getting close. If she's a queen, she can gain support from her people and overthrow the current government."

Sonic laughed. "Ha! I'm glad you threatened that guy to let us in."

"We could have lost everything," Tails went to his bag and saw all the things he borrowed yesterday.

Amy checked her bag as well. "We need to keep these documents hidden. I'm going to make digital copies in case something happens to them."

Knuckles entered the tent with a few things in his hands. "I brought the kettle and a few cups. Oh, we all look upset. What happened?" He was met with serious faces. "Let me guess: We found out information we shouldn't of and now someone burned down the library in an attempt to scare us off because our new friends are illegal refugees and are wanted criminals back where they're from?"

Sticks grabbed her device, "Scratch the conspiracy. I'm back to aliens. That guess was too close for comfort." Her machine buzzed and whirred like never before when she scanned Knuckles. "What's going on with this?" she said and smacked the side of it then continued to scan him.

"You're so close, Knucks. Everything but the criminal part. We're dealing with a royal family," Sonic said.

"And where there's a queen, usually there's a king. Maybe she's looking for someone around here," Amy suggested.

"Maybe not; maybe there's another queen." Knuckles counter-suggested as he laid out the cups and filled them with boiling water.

"What makes you say that?" Sonic asked.

Knuckles pointed over his shoulder and whispered, "I saw Jami and Pami kissing before bed last night," he smiled warmly, "They're such a cute couple."

Tails held a hand up, "I think maybe Knuckles was right about her being a criminal then. A same sex, different species partner is a huge crime. They'd throw them in jail before anyone could prove anything."

"For Pete's sake," Sticks said and began examining Knuckles hair and arms. "You better be who you say you are. Ow, spikes." After getting a laugh out of everyone Sticks pulled a small, thumb sized, round speaker off the underside of Knuckles communicator. She held up a finger to her mouth and the laughter stopped.

"So! We should get breakfast now. Where do we go?" Sonic said in a way that sounded natural. He took the device form Sticks.

"Where to choose," Tails wrote out a note saying they should split up and meet at the port. There was even a little deck drawn next to it. "I liked the food at Blob's the other day; why not see what their breakfast menu is like?"

"Sounds lovely. I'll catch up with you guys later. I'm going to lay down." Amy picked up the bucket and lifted the tent wall that led to the vacant tent next to them. From there, she and Sonic slipped out the back and between two buildings.

Tails and Sticks waited for a cart carrying supplies to go by and snuck off behind it.

Knuckles did what he did best and dug a tunnel to an alleyway near the main road. He climbed to the rooftops and hopped across them to get to the pier. When he passed by the burger place down below, he saw a bunch of armour clad folk with guns patrolling the area. They showed a photo around to the locals. "Those guys weren't here yesterday." He reported what he saw to the others when they met up again.

"I destroyed the speaker on the way here," Sonic said as he held up his own communicator. "And I checked me and Amy; noting on us so far."

Sticks nodded alongside Tails. "I checked us too, nada. I wonder when you were bugged. I hope it was this morning and not last night."

Knuckles thought about it. "Me too. This is the first time I get to meet my people and the last thing I need is to have my plans ruined. We don't need a militia breathing down our necks. And I have to work until three thirty today."

"What if you were bugged at the restaurant?" Sticks suggested.

He thought harder. "I only took my gloves off to bake and to help Julie-Su move an engine; my communicator stayed on me the whole time. I didn't notice anything then because I made sure I didn't get any flour or grease on my device. It must have happened at night or while I was waiting for the kettle this morning."

"Hang on," Tails said. "Back up a moment."

"Seriously," Knuckles said and held out his arm, "See, spotless. I know how you get when we gunk these up on you."

Tails shook his head, "Julie-Su?"

Knuckles blushed, "She was working at a garage and I helped her move an engine."

"And is this who's accompanying you tonight," Sonic asked with raised eyebrows. He saw Knuckles nod. "Geez, my man works fast. Bonus points if she's an echidna." He saw another nod. "Up top!" Sonic claimed a high five from his friend.

"It's so weird though. I got this feeling when I shook her hand. It was...I don't know, it was like...nostalgic and floaty an-" Knuckles was cut short by the sight of more people with guns. "I don't think they're looking for us," he said and pointed.

Sonic nodded. "They had no way of knowing we were coming here. They must be all over town."

"We should act casual. They may have only bugged Knuckles because he was talking with Mili this morning," Tails said and they departed.

While Knuckles was at his temp job, the others went around town separately for the day until they could confirm their own safety.

"Excuse me," a guy from beyond the counter got Knuckles attention. The man wore armour and carried a rifle. "We're looking for some escape criminals." He held up the photo to reveal none other than Jami and Chopper.

"No one like that here," he said confidently and took the paper. "Mind if I keep this for reference? Gotta keep our streets safe."

"Not a problem. I've got plenty. There's a number there to call if you see anything," he said, saluted and left again.

Knuckles read the clock, "After twelve it goes back to one, two and...a half. I have an hour left," he said and went back to work. Constantly working kept his mind off the supper party, his date and now a potentially violent militia. He was stressed and didn't eat for the whole day.

Three thirty finally came. Knuckles killed time before going for Julie-Su by doodling an idea for his tattoo. "This is gonna look awesome. Up the arm, around the shoulder, add a few marks here...and yeah...I think that's a good start." He saw Kline's tattoo's from the photo Chopper showed him and he got a good look at Re'kar's before he left the day before. Knuckles tried to stay as close to that style as he could. He tucked the drawing away under his communicator and made his way to the garage to meet the lovely Julie-Su.

* * *

Of course the tattoo's are gonna be a match...or are they? OoO


	17. Chapter 17: Think like an Echidna 3

Next one! BAM!

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 17: Think Like an Echidna 3-**_

* * *

Knuckles kept a low profile as he walked the soldier peppered streets of the busy port town. His mind raced a mile a second. "My brain is how Sonic's legs must feel," he said and held a hand over his growling empty gut, "And my stomach feels the way my head usually does."

He suddenly heard yelling and couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. He grabbed a nearby newspaper and sat on a roadside bench. "That's pretty," he said as he opened to the colour page of a field of poppy flowers. When he finally was able to notice where the disturbance was coming from he got up, still with the paper in front of him, and moved to a closer bench. ' _No soldiers. No witnesses._ ' Knuckles kept on high alert.

"Get the hell out!" Julie-Su's voice resonated from down the street.

Knuckles sat still and watched on.

Things like wrenches and pieces of scrap metal flew out of the open garage door. "You don't show up without a warrant," she continued to chase two squirrel grunts out of her shop. "Nothing gives you the right to tear apart my garage and then expect me to cooperate!" She managed to find a large cooking pot and threw it at the head of one of the intruders and successfully knocked him out cold. "You show up with a warrant next time and maybe I won't tear you to shreds!"

"That's a threat, I'll have you know!" the remaining solider said as he reached for his firearm.

Knuckles began to leave his seat.

"That's not a threat! It's a promise! Now get the fuck out of here!"

He raised a gun to silence Julie-Su.

Before Knuckles acted, he looked at Julie-Su's face to see confidence. He decided not to move, he just watched.

" _Really_?" Julie-Su slowly raised her hands and wore a wide smirk. "You think so?" She gave a sharp whistle and every store owner left their shop. They gathered around behind the soldiers with cat cries and growls of disapproval. They were above them as well. A few others also left the comfort of their kitchens and living rooms and littered their catwalks and balconies with cries and hisses of an ominous nature.

He put his gun away. "I'll be _back_ with a warrant." He grabbed his fallen comrade and hoisted him to his shoulders and took off sprinting. A few locals yelled to not bother coming back.

The crowd let out cheers of victory and showered Julie-Su with praise. After the mob died down and the good folks went back to work, Knuckles saw it right to approach Julie-Su. "You've got a hell of a following."

Her eyes lit up. "Sorry you had to see that." She untied her bandanna for the day and let her long lavender dreadlocks free.

"Don't worry about it. I was about to jump in and flatten them."

"Not that I needed you to, but why didn't you," she taunted playfully.

"You handled it just fine." Knuckles thought for a moment, "And I think that may have done more harm than good. I'll talk to you abou-"

"Hi, Knuckles," Tabby said as she dropped form the ceiling. She pointed with a thumb, "Just fixing a light bulb and not scared by the guards."

"Hi, Tabby," he said with a wave.

"Julie-Su tells me you're getting a tat today." She saw him nod. "Here," she said and tore open the envelope. "She said she saw this in a dream and thought you'd like it."

"Tabby?! What is wrong with you?" Julie-Su asked demandingly.

"Whaaat? I wanna know if he liked it, is all," she snickered. "What do you think? Does it speak to you?"

Knuckles unfolded the papers and looked over the design. In traditional fashion it consisted of solid thick white lines. It was a large tattoo that would take up the length of his left arm and ended over the shoulder with a design that looked like a singe angel wing with two extra lines on the back on the right side. "I like it, but those two spots look out of place..."

Tabby scoffed, "Mmmhmm."

"Hang on, no they aren't. It's easier to show you," he said and pulled out the design he had made. "I was going to get _this_ on my right arm and it matches the one you did for the left, oddly enough...and look," he said and held the drawings overlapping one another, "These two little out of place lines fit when I hold it up to mine." The design on his back would be of four lines on each side representing wings.

"It's like you're an angel!" Jo said with shock, awe and glee all mixed into one.

"I am from Angel Island, so this works awesome. I'm glad you showed me this Tabby. And thank you for making this, Julie-Su. You ready to go? We still have a couple hours to kill if you-are you okay?" he asked and saw Julie-Su was wiping her eyes.

"I'm really happy you like the design," she said.

"Have fun you two," Tabby said with a defeated tone and went back to 'replacing light bulbs'.

"I'm fine. I wiped dirt into my eyes before washing my hands. You know how it is." She cleaned and composed herself then left, but not before getting two very enthusiastic thumbs up from Jo.

They talked and walked. "This is a big job," she said and looked over the finished doodles. "Sure you can handle it?"

"Depends. Do tattoos hurt much?"

"I'm not sure. I don't have any. My buddy Re'Re has them from head to toe and Jaeen has them all over his face, but, I doubt asking either of them is a good idea. They're the type to put on the macho act."

Knuckles felt discouraged, "I can put on a 'macho act', but my macho act is just an 'act'...does that make sense?"

"You're the sensitive type, I take it?" She couldn't help but laugh a little, "I'm sure they'll hold you down."

"Maybe I'll get lucky and pass out from the pain."

"I'll take you somewhere. There's a tattoo artist who can give you some pointers. Maybe clean up our designs a bit," she said and took him by the hand and picked up her pace some.

Knuckles followed along for a few minutes until he saw more soldiers talking a short distance away. "Wait, wait a minute. This way," he said and led her into a alley. "We should take the back roads if we can."

Julie-Su smiled at him and shook her head, "Trust me. They were in the wrong by coming into my shop and breaking things."

"It's much more than that," he said while shaking his head. "I think we should lay low until the party."

"It was _you_ who they were asking questions about you then?" she asked with a hushed tone.

Knuckles shrugged. "Maybe. Someone bugged my communicator this morning. Whoever it was they must have seen us talking. Me and my friends have no clue who it could be."

Julie-Su nodded, "Okay, I'm not asking questions. It seems like the less I know the better. Follow me," she said and began to scale the catwalk, "You okay with heights?" she asked but Knuckles already raced her to the top of the building.

"Need a hand up?" he chuckled and extended a hand.

Julie-Su did a couple flips and flung herself to the top of the building and came nearly nose to nose with him. "I can get up on my own," she said and poked the centre of his chest. "Can you keep up?"

"I can go as long as you can," he said and followed behind the swift echidna lady. They jumped from roof to roof until they reached their destination.

* * *

I'm on a roll. :D


	18. Chapter 18: By Design

And another! BAM!

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 18: By Design-**_

* * *

Julie-Su led them down from the rooftops to an open backdoor. "This place belongs to my adoptive father. It's a tattoo parlor." She lightly knocked on it's frame, "You in here?"

A very old echidna with a glass eye appeared from behind a bead curtain. "Julie-Su? What brings you here?" He then saw Knuckles behind her. "And a second guest, welcome."

"Hey, Simon," she said and hugged him. "We came here to get some advice on tattoos; both in design and mental preparation," she said and handed him the drawings.

He nodded. "I see what this is missing. Come-come to my office." He took both designs and left behind the curtain again. They followed.

Simon's office was covered in paintings and sculptures from artists all around the world. Many large framed photographs of folks with completed, full body tattoos were up on the walls as well. "Have a seat," Simon said and motioned to a stool for Knuckles to sit on. He went to his desk, gathered up some watery white paint and sat down in front of the new acquaintance. The old man rested a hand on his shoulder. "Who'd have thought that Locke and Lara-Le live on. It's good to be able to meet you Knuckles." He dipped the brush and began his work.

Knuckles looked surprised. "You know my name just by touching my shoulder?" He winced from the cold paint on his skin.

The old man chuckled, "Jules told me your name yesterday. And just to see your face, I can see your father and mother in you, plain as day. You grew up on Angel Island, correct?"

"Yes. I lived there till I was about eleven or twelve. I've lived on Seaside Island since then, with my friends."

"The chaos temple was raided and destroyed long ago. There was no reason for you to remain secluded on such a big, empty island. The great war took a lot from us but it's a relief to see they left a few good souls behind."

"I don't have a lot of memories from when I was younger. It feels like when I got off that island, I finally woke up and started remembering things."

Simon nodded as he continued to paint his guest. "And from the sounds of it, soultouch has ensured you won't ever be alone again." His words made Julie-Su blush. "Don't be so bashful child," He said as he moved around Knuckles back to continue. "No one is saying you have to settle down right now. All it means is you know now your fates are intertwined." He painted down the opposite arm and the base was finished. "Now the back of your hands. If you're alright with a suggestion..." He sat down in front of him again.

Both Knuckles and Julie-Su nodded.

"Okay. Take off your gloves; I have just the thing. Which is your dominant hand?" Knuckles right hand was presented to him. "Alright. " He took a smaller brush and made two ancient symbols on the backs of Knuckles hands. "This on the left is a representation of the phase of the moon at it's darkest. It shows you're followed by a dark past. Like the moon that changes, so to shall you," he said and pointed along his arm to his shoulders, "This shows the trials you took to become a warrior and protector. The wings tell of an awakening," he continued down to the right arm, "This is a representation of the light of Aurora shining through you. She is the goddess who protects and watches over us all."

"Wow, way more insightful than I could ever be," Knuckles said.

"Nonsense," the old man pat his shoulder, "It will all come in time. Now, this paint is safe to tattoo over, but I suggest you just get outlines for now, until you know how you heal."

"Thank you," Knuckles hesitated but asked anyway, "Can you tell me more about Aurora?" Knuckles asked as he admired the outline for his tattoo.

"I certainly can."

"And what is soultouch, exactly?"

He chuckled warmly again, "How long do you have to talk?" Simon asked.

"If we want to get there on time, we have about an hour to listen," Julie-Su said as she looked at the clock.

"I'll tell you what I can. You're welcome to come back and listen to more anytime I'm not working."

"Simon, could I record your stories. I doubt I'll remember them all and I'd love to go back to them someday." Simon agreed and the recording session began. Julie-Su and Knuckles curled up in a comfortable spot to listen to the first few glimpses into echidna culture.

Time flew by as Simon regaled them with a few of the most common stories of their people. Stories of strength and loss, perseverance and triumph, love and growth.

Before they headed out Knuckles stopped in his tracks, "I forgot to bring food with me. Is that considered rude?" He was used to pot-lucks.

"Were you invited over to stay as a guest, or were you specifically invited over to eat?" Simon queried.

"...uh, it was for supper." Knuckles said when he remembered properly.

"Then it would be rude to bring food. If you brought food, it would be like you were saying to the chef you didn't trust his cooking."

"Glad I asked...so, like, not even a bag of buns?"

Simon laughed and turned to walk away, "I think showing up in a stencil is enough of a treat for our people. Have fun, you two."

Jules laughed, "You'll get used to the way we do things. Let's go. Now that it's a little darker, I think we can safely roam the streets."

Knuckles nodded, "True. Buuut...jumping from rooftops is _really_ fun. We don't have any buildings this close on the island, so I'm kind of liking it."

She snapped and pointed a finger, "That, Knuckles, is a fantastic point." With that, the two of them par-cored all the way to Re'kar's home.

* * *

I keep writing and it won't stop! XD


	19. Chapter 19: Life

Who likes babies?

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 19: Life-**_

* * *

Re'kar's house was not what Knuckles was expecting from a chef at a little pizza place. It was a two story mansion. "Hang on a second," Knuckles said as they touched down. "How did you know where to go?"

She rang the doorbell. "This is Re'Re's. I've been here before," she said. The intercom came on speaking garbled words neither of them could make out. "Fix your buzzer! It's been broken a month, cheapskate! Open the damn gate," she said playfully and let the button go. "The maid hates me."

"But I didn't tell you who's house it was," he said and scratched his head.

An audible sigh was heard over the speaker and the gates buzzed.

She pushed the gate open. "I was invited to this too, I just didn't want to go-" she said and trailed off.

"-alone?" Knuckles finished her sentence quickly and gave her a dashing smile. He put a hand on his hip for her to link into his arm.

"Ye-yes," she said and looped his arm with a smile. She led him to the front door.

After entering, Knuckles and 'Jules', as most called her, were greeted warmly. Many commented on Knuckles markings being a perfect fit for him. One of the guests was all too eager to get the ink flowing and excused himself to set up the studio.

Knuckles shovelled a bit of food into himself after a long day of fasting. It was all delicious. "What are these?" He remembered what Mili had told him on the boat; he was prepared for anything. The food in question was a breaded deep fried ball with a filling that tasted like a cross between vegetables and minced beef.

Jules hesitated, "I should have warned you before you ate anything." She poked the ball. "That's filled with crushed termites." She turned to the table. "That thing there, with the crackers, is a worm-ant puree. The tiny things with the toothpicks in the top are also made of termites." She went over all the rest of the traditional dishes and finished by saying, "Basically if you don't recognize it immediately, it's a bug dish."

"Cool," he said and popped one of the crunchy toothpick ones. "I'm an adventurous eater."

Jules couldn't help but laugh, "That's great...but take the toothpick out next time."

"It's happening! Right now!" A woman's voice called from down the hall. Everyone got up and quickly followed her.

He was confused. "What's happening?"

"A baby," someone else said in passing.

Knuckles whispered to Jules, "I don't know if I want to watch a birth. I'm kinda eating bugs right now."

"They've been birthed already and they're finally hatching." Julie-Su assured him.

"An egg, however, is totally doable. I almost forgot we lay eggs. Still trying to get my head around that." He laid his food down and followed the rest.

They entered the chamber where an egg lay under a warming lamp in a raised bed. It twitched a little, then it twitched a lot, and then it stood still. Everyone remained silent so Re'kar and his wife could speak to the baby within. After a ten minutes of waiting the little one broke through the outer layer. Only a tiny pink nose stuck out to breath frantically.

Julie-Su took Knuckles arm and mouthed the words 'no talking'. She led him through the crowd to get a closer look at the tiny life busting into the world. As if it was no ones business, the arm of the mini echidna tore through the egg and a loud squeak was heard. Everyone murmured at the adorableness of it. With a small amount of help from mommy and daddy, the new life squeaked it's way from it's leathery prison and made it to the blanket to catch their breath. The baby was pink, tiny and nearly translucent. Everyone gave a 'congratulations' to the proud new parents.

She tapped Knuckles, "Let's let the immediate family get to know the little one." They went back to the hallway with a few others. "We're so tiny when we're born. Hard to think you were that small once, huh?" She turned to see Knuckles doing his best to keep tears from falling on the marble floor.

"I thought I'd never get to see something like that. I don't know what to say," he said through a smile and tears. "My buddy's gonna be a dad in about five months. I'm gonna be an even bigger mess when that happens."

"Bottom's up!" Re'kar appeared from the hatchery and handed him a shot glass of hard liquor.

Without hesitation he took the shot and coughed. "Pretty sure that was paint thinner."

"Why you so worked up?" Re'kar laughed out loud, "I'm the new dad here, I should be the one who's all emotional!" He poured another shot, "And tonight is your first tattoo! Another shot!"

Unsure if this was tradition or not, Knuckles took the second shot. "I think that's all I can manage," he said and totally dried his face.

"One for Jules," Re'kar handed her the shot glass.

"Congrats, man," she said and raised the glass to take her shot like a boss. She held out the glass and wiggled it, "And it's my first date; I want a second one too." Re'kar nodded deeply and filled the glass right to the brim for her. Another shot she handled like a pro.

"Listen," he got close for her to hear, "I'm really proud of you for coming tonight, Jules." He took the glass back and raised it and the bottle of booze in the air. "I'm a daddy! You're ALL getting wrecked by Re'kar tonight! Woo!" That said, he was off towards the sound of cheering.

"Traditions here are intense," Knuckles caught his breath and found his plate. After the onslaught of booze he needed something to bring the feeling back to his face.

Jules let out a, "Hah! That wasn't traditional. That was just us getting shitfaced."

"That's a relief." They laughed. "I don't usually drink. I think it's only the third time I've drank; maybe fourth."

Jules corrected herself, "I guess it is a _little_ traditional. Normally everyone is work-work-work, but for celebrations of life and death, marriage and victory, let's just say the 'big boy pants' come off and the 'lampshade over the head' goes on," she said and popped a deep fried morsel. "If it gets too be too much, I'll make sure you get home. Where are you staying?" Knuckles whispered it to her. "Oh, no-no, you'll be staying here. HEY! Re'Re, we're taking your downstairs den tonight!"

"Cools Jules! It's all yours," he yelled from another room.

"Pardon me, are you ready?" a voice sounded from behind them. A taller, slender echidna waved to them from the 'ink room'.

"Are you?" Julie-Su asked and laid a hand on his back.

"Maybe? Let's find out," Knuckles said as he finished the food, tossed his plate out and entered the chamber of pain.

* * *

Now, if any of you recall the time loop/groundhog day episode, Knuckles hated going to the dentist...I'm assuming because he doesn't like needles or can't handle them too well. x,x

I also made the 'traditional' echidna thing a little more urban because in this timeline...I'll explain it in story. No need for exposition. ;D


	20. Chapter 20: Pains

All kinds of pains. ^_~

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 20: Pains-**_

* * *

The tattooist looked over Knuckles paint job as he lay face down on the bench. "The only part that's going to be terribly painful is the spinal portion from here to here," he said and measured the section of the inner wings with his hands. "The top of your hands are the second most painful and your biceps, forearms and the meaty part of your back should be the easiest."

"Any suggestion, D," Jules asked.

He nodded, "I'd start at the spine and work down the arms to the hands. If it's too much pain for you, we can stop right away. It would be best if you didn't have a huge, half finished piece. It's not a tattoo at that point, it'd just be a bunch of lines." D turned the gun on and made Knuckles jump up.

"What the hell is that?!" He sat up straight and tried to leave the table when he saw the needle on the end of the device. Jules stopped him.

"It's a tattoo gun," he said and made it hum a couple more times. "Re'kar, one more in here please!" D said loudly.

"I don't know," Jules began.

Knuckles held up a hand, "I'll be okay," he said and sat down.

"Already?" he asked as he entered and saw Knuckles. He looked terrified. "What's wrong," he asked and poured a drink for Knuckles and gave it to him.

After recovering from the third shot he said, "I'm not a fan of needles," and wrung his hands.

"It's okay." Re'kar laid him back down on his stomach and knelt in front of him to make eye contact. He held his fingers over an inch apart. "This is how far a needle goes in your muscle for medication," he adjusted his fingers so they were nearly touching. "It only goes in about this much for a tattoo. It hurts, but in a different way and not long lasting like a flu shot; which I hate too, by the way. Now breathe."

Knuckles calmed down with a deep breath.

"You'll be fine; but I wouldn't drink any more until you're done, you'll bleed too much," he said and stood up and left the room.

"Bleed? Much?" he said with a meep.

"You start, I'll hold him," Jules said as she stood at his head and gently rested her hands on his shoulders. "I'm here."

"I'm going to start the gun, in three, two, one," D said and the buzzing began. "I'm going to start here, first I'll point," he pointed, "And three, two, one." He finally made contact.

Knuckles sucked in air through his teeth and held on to the bottom of the bench as hard as he could.

"Doing great," D assured him.

"How is it?" Julie-Su was amazed he wasn't making any noise beyond breathing.

"Excruciating, amounts, of, uncomfortable, vibrating, pain," he said as best he could through gritted teeth. "It really sucks. It's like having all your hairs plucked out one by one."

D laughed under his breath. "We're just doing the outlines," he assured him. "It won't take too long. I'm making progress."

"Nope." Knuckles said. "I'm not doing this again. Can you finish the whole thing?"

Jules and D gave each other an impressed glance. "I can do your entire back but it would be too difficult to heal if I do your arms and hands. Sleep would be impossible and it would ruin your tattoo if you got injured while this heals over. I'll create a stencil of everything we don't finish tonight," he said and began to fill in the two outlines he had created of the wings.

"Good, enough." Minutes ticked away and Knuckles calmed down, "I think I feel the booze more than the gun now," he said as his grip loosened. His cheeks and across his muzzle were flushed with red.

Jules touched his face and felt he was pale everywhere else, "I'll get you some food."

"Something meaty, please!" he decreed as she left the room. She returned with recognizable foods. "Sweet," he said. Jules sat cross-legged on the floor and fed him so he didn't need to move his arms.

Guests came and went as they admired D and Knuckles process. They gave him words of encouragement and suggestions on how to breathe calmly. They gave Jules a knowing glance of approval on their way out. After ninety minutes into the process, one wing was complete.

Knuckles communicator beeped. He answered and tried not to laugh, "Knuckles tattoo parlour: You think it, we ink it."

' _He's been drinking_ ,' Sonic's voice sounded like it was away from the speaker, ' _You do realize the militia is on our tails, right_?'

"That's rude. Tails is a nice guy. Tell them to piss off," he misunderstood.

' _No, I mean they're following us. Where are you_?'

"Hmm, if I told you that, someone may hear and follow you. Where are _you_ guys at? I'll come get you."

"If _you_ do that, I can't finish," D said. "Send someone else." D finished off the last outlines of Knuckles second wing.

"I'll go get help," Jules said and went to get Re'kar.

' _We're all at the campsite in a different tent. The soldiers are looking for Jami and Chopper for sure. We don't know if they want the rest of us or not_.'

"What's going on?" Re'kar entered the room with Jules.

"My friends are stuck at camp and being chased by a gun toting militia, no biggie," Knuckles was out of it and didn't fully grasp how bad the situation was.

' _NO BIGGIE!? It is very 'biggie'!_ '

"Why?" Re'kar asked in a frustrated tone.

"We're associated with, and are now helping hide, some criminals. Here's their picture," he said and pulled the wanted poster out from behind his communicator.

D said, "Stay still."

Re'kar took the paper in hand. " _What?!_ " He wasn't okay with the news and shot a glare at Jules; she shrugged.

"Yeah. We met some refugees who were escaping a warring, kinda shitty place, and now the government people's don't like us very much," he said with a shrug.

"Ah-ah, no shrugging," D said and held his shoulder still.

Re'kar pinched the space between his brow. "Knuckles, dear friend, when you tell people these things, lead with the ' _helping refugees_ ' part," he said with a relieved tone. "We can bring them here."

"I'm not allowed to move," he asked and hooked a thumb at D.

"Ah-ah, no moving," he said and pushed his arm back down.

"See, I'm stuck."

' _Can you focus_?!' Sonic asked with an increased level of panic.

"Not even a little! I'm kinda drunk, bleeding profusely and being repeatedly stabbed over a hundred times a minute. Where y'at? Send me your coordinates and someone can come get you. Who's all there?"

' _All nine of us_.'

"Okay...here," Knuckles said and produced a hologram of were they were at.

"I know the area. There in ten," Re'kar said and rallied his people. "When you piss one of us off, you piss us all off!" They all gave him a holler and a series of fists in the air. "Sis, we need your van," he said and was promptly tossed a set of keys.

"They're on the way," Knuckles said with a relaxed tone.

' _We'll be here. Hopefully._ ' The communication ended.

"Re'kar!" Knuckles yelled.

He briefly came into the room, "Did something happen?"

"No, just, there's a pink Amy and a blue Sonic the hedgehog with them. I didn't see any other hedgehogs in the city, so that may be able to help you find them; if they need to move between now and then, I mean," he said while remaining motionless.

"Smart thinking," he said and left out the front door with the six biggest members of the party.

"Smart me? Huh, tonight's full of surprises," he said and took a bite of food that Jules fed him.

Jules shook her head distantly, "You are far too chill for this situation right now."

* * *

Chill Knucks is best Knucks. 8)

Also, it isn't a good idea to drink and get a tattoo. Don't do it. x_x


	21. Chapter 21: The Morning

Going to be wrapping this up soon. Don't want it to drag on too long.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 21: The Morning-**_

* * *

"Knuckles...Knuckles...wake up."

When Knuckles awoke, he was in a facing the back of a chair, his legs on either side and his arms were bound together. He couldn't see beyond a few vague outlines.

"Don't move, buddy," Sonic said from a nearby couch.

"Have we been kidnapped?"

"No. You shouldn't move. Do you know why?"

Knuckles thought. "I got a tattoo last night."

"Riiight. How much of it do you remember?"

Knuckles thought. "Um, about half."

"Do you remember us showing up last night at all?"

Knuckles thought. "Yes. We had a shot together...and that's pretty much where it ends."

Sonic laughed quietly and cracked the curtains open.

The light hit Knuckles eyes and he winced in pain, wincing made him move his back; he let out a pained cry. "Agh! Mistakes were made. Some _big_ mistakes were made."

Sonic laughed louder. "I'll say."

"Did everyone make it?"

"Yep."

"Where's Jules?"

"Not sure, she went to go shower. We kept an eye on you in shifts."

Knuckles wiggled his arms and couldn't loosen the knot of the white towel that held them together. He was tied to two chairs. The back of the second chair faced away and padded his arms while he slept. "Little help." His friend untied him. "Hey Sonic, in the future, don't let me make major, executive decisions about body modification when I'm drinking, okay?" Knuckles was unable to lower his arms, they were stuck in 'mid hug' position.

Sonic nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

Knuckles looked down and noticed his white paint was cleaned off. "Did D manage to get the outline for my arms?"

Sonic pointed to the nearby desk with the traced remains of Knuckles completed design. "You wanted him to do the whole thing."

"I'm glad he didn't. Holy crap," he said and wearily rose to his feet. "I want to lay down, but," he said and tried to flex his arms down. "That's not happening." He squinted. "My eyeballs hurt."

"Jules said you didn't eat much, so those four shots hit you like a ton of bricks."

"I believe that; it feels like I've been hit with a whole truckload of bricks." He walked into the hallway with Sonic and down to the kitchen where Tails, Sticks and Amy sat.

The words, "Don't show me," came from Amy's mouth at least ten times while she walked up to Knuckles. "...okay, show me."

He slowly turned around and held his hair out of the way. The whole area was swollen, purple and had remnants of dried blood all over the place. "Does it look good or bad? It feels bad."

Tails was the first to comment, "Beyond the swelling, it looks badass."

Sonic folded his arms, "Won't lie, I'm jealous. It does look pretty badass."

"Why don't you get one too?"

"Pass."

"Chicken?" Knuckles tried to make a chicken noise while flapping his arms but was thwarted by pain. "Ow, ow, never mind."

"My point exactly," Sonic said and then noticed Amy being catatonic. "Ames? You okay?" He waved a hand in front of her face.

"...yea," she said blankly.

Sonic backed her away from the sight. "You should have seen her when D was still working on it." He took her shoulders and shook her gently. "You have to give birth someday and there's going to be blood then too, don't forget."

"...yea," she repeated.

Sonic sighed, "Wanna go see the baby? Come on, let's go see the baby." He turned her around and made her walk away.

"Yea," she said with a bit more life as Sonic took her to find the nursery, Sticks followed.

"Turns out Amy doesn't like the sight of blood," Tails said and examined Knuckles tattoo a bit closer. "That looks really painful. How do you clean it? Are you even supposed to?"

Knuckles thought. "I forgot to ask. Until last night I didn't even know you used needles for this. I don't know what I thought a tattoo was, honestly."

"Let's find Re'kar and hear what he suggests. He's had plenty of tattoo's he's cared for in the past." Tails and Knuckles searched around and found him in the sun room. Re'kar's wife had a large indoor garden on the sunny side of the house that he agreed to help with while she was nursing. Tails opened the door for Knuckles.

"You're up before noon? I'm surprised." Re'kar said as the two came into view. He snipped some dead branches from a fruit tree. "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering about the tattoo. How do I clean this? Or bandage it? I have no clue what I'm doing."

Re'kar laughed lightly, "There're bandages on it already. It's actually time to take them off," he said. "I informed Jules on how to care for you in these first few days. She should be around somewhere. Check the den; I think she was showering down there."

They were off once again. Tails had to help Knuckles down the steps but they made it in one piece. "Jules? You down here?" Knuckles called out.

"Right here," she said from the bathroom. "Getting dressed...in...a dress..." she said with annoyance. She came out in a beige dress with brown macrame lace hems and matching belt. "Kai-Li's way too tall; this was the only one of her outfits that fit."

"It looks nice," Knuckles commented.

She blushed, "Thanks. I really don't like wearing dresses, but if I wanted to hold the baby I had to change. Apparently I smell too much like grease."

"It's still better than wearing pants," he suggested.

"Can't argue there," she said with a chuckle.

"Question: How do I clean this?" he said and turned around.

Julie-Su bit her lip, "Carefully. Come here and sit."

"Do you need any help, or are you good?" Tails asked and hoped she could handle it on her own.

"I need a few towels. They should be in the closet down that hall." Jules filled a bucket with water and sat Knuckles backwards on a chair again. When all the supplies were gathered she began the delicate process of removing the initial thin bandage which had healed directly to his skin. "We just blot it with water, remove this bandage and then you let it stay exposed to the air. Cleaning it daily, it should take about a week to heal fully." She dampened the bandage and peeled it off his flesh. It made a sound when it let go of Knuckles fresh wound.

"I'll leave you two to that." Tails felt faint at the sight and sound of the strips coming off. He went back upstairs to see a few of Re'kar's relatives in the main living area watching television. A familiar voice played as he passed by. "I know who that is," he said and entered the room to see the end of the commercial they made for their island.

Soar the eagle spoke profoundly about their home. ' _Our sandy beaches are the best place for sun, surf and fun. Weekly luau's now available!_ ' It showed the mayor of the city attempting to limbo; the pole balanced on his stomach as he limbo'ed away with it.

"I think he skips core day," one of the cousins said.

"I doubt he's _skipped_ a day in his life," another retorted.

Tails chuckled as he remembered the night in question. He left to find Sticks, Sonic and Amy in the nursery with Kai-Li and the little one. Everyone obsessed over the new baby's every move.

"Aww, she yawned," Sticks said as she leaned down to get a closer look at her stretching her pink limbs.

The baby, called Al-Ma, was in her mother's arms on the verge of sleep. Kai-Li pat her small head and looked up to them all. "I'm afraid she's fallen asleep. I have to put her in my pouch for now."

Everyone left Kai-Li with the baby to nap.

"I saw our commercial; it turned out really good," Tails informed them.

Sonic nodded, "Knuckles still hasn't see it yet, has he? Where is he?"

"Downstairs getting cleaned up."

"When he's done I'll show him the whole thing...plus a few other videos he'd be interested in seeing," Sonic said with an evil smirk.

"I doubt he'd want to watch them all," Tails said with an embarrassed tone.

"I bet he does. Right, Sticks?"

Sticks growled, "So much hate for you right now," she said and cocked her head off to the side.

"What?" Sonic said deviously and tapped his communicator, "Nothing wrong with recording fun times with your friends. I even named them: Tipsy Talking Tails Tales, Rum Jungle Volley and, my personal favourite, Stick by Me."

"I'll end you!" Sticks said and jumped for his throat.

Tails caught her in time, "It's fair."

Sonic scoffed and folded his arms, "It's payback for recording ME yelling at water. Sneaky assholes."

"Hah, yeah. That _was_ pretty funny," Sticks giggled.

* * *

In my head, I see about maybe six or seven more chapters.

So close. :D


	22. Chapter 22: Crazy Evening

Coming closer to the end. XD

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 22: Crazy Evening-**_

* * *

Knuckles came upstairs with Julie-Su. With the bandages removed his mobility increased. His arms rested at his sides. He walked with a slight hunch to keep his spikes off the healing tattoo. "Where's everybody else?" he asked when he realized Chopper and the others were nowhere to be found.

"They left last night," Amy said.

"It went down like this," Sonic began.

 _Sonic peered out from between tent flaps. "The soldiers are everywhere." He sat back down with the others. His leg shook furiously. "Do you think they got him?" He referred to Knuckles._

" _We should call him," Amy suggested._

" _What if one of us is bugged again?" Tails said._

" _Again?" Mili said, "Oh, right, that was me."_

" _What?!" Sonic said with surprise._

" _Yeah, we didn't know if you guys were going to sell us out or not. Sorry, just playing it safe," she said with a shrug._

" _There's a big reward on our heads," Chopper pointed out, "That kind of money can turn people against you."_

 _"Trusting someone was how we landed on that ship in the first place," Pami said and held Jami close._

 _Tears poured from her eyes. "They'll hang my brother and I if we're caught," Jami said, "Understand we only did it in fear."_

 _Sonic shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I'd do the same thing if the situation were reversed. That means it's safe to call Knuckles. I hope he's not on his way back right now." After a brief conversation with their inebriated friend the plan was set in motion._

" _How can he party at a time like this?" Tails asked._

" _Not sure, but I hope they get here in time."_

 _After what felt like an eternity of waiting, they heard a large vehicle roll into camp._

" _Do you think that's them?" Amy asked._

 _Again, Sonic peeked out the tent flaps. "Wow, those guys are huge! It has to be them. How to get their attention though..." He stood there and waited for one of the five large echidnas to make eye contact with their hiding spot._

 _Re'kar was the one to spot Sonic's eye peering at them. He walked up to the tent and quickly let himself in. "You're Sonic, I take it?" he asked and extended a hand. They shook. "We'll talk more after we get out of here. I'll bring the van around."_

 _As quickly as possible everyone loaded into the van._

 _Someone noticed what was happening and alerted a soldier._ " _Stop right there!" The soldier yelled and took aim. "Stop moving or I'll shoot!" Since no one listened to his warning he took a pot shot and hit Buck in the leg._

" _Ya cunts!" he yelled as he hit the ground. Four large arms picked him up and hauled him into the back of the van. "Fuckers! Cocksuckers! Bastards!" were only a few of the colourful words Buck used to describe his current mood._

 _The van peeled out of camp and knocked over a line of military motorcycles in the process. "Take that!" Re'kar shouted as he drove into the city streets. A few undamaged motorcycles gave chase. "I've lived here for thirty five years, you think you know this city better than me?!" He made a sweet maneuver through a couple tricky streets and managed to make one of the soldiers crash into another. "Almost there," he said and gunned it down the road to a couple of waiting echidnas. They stood atop a tunnel and held brambles out of the way. As the van passed beneath them, the two jumped on the roof and dropped the cloak of spiny vines behind them. The lone soldier hit the wall of brambles at full speed and was swept off his bike. "WOO! Home free!" Re'kar yelled as they all cheered._

"That's awesome," Knuckles declared.

Amy nodded. "The files I saved from the library were exactly what Jami and Chopper needed; they didn't know those documents even still existed until I showed them. They're taking the papers back to their country as we speak. Now that Jami has proof she and Chopper are the last two members of the royal family, they can get their inheritance and start making some real changes."

"And Jami told me they'd never go back," Sonic shrugged, "Plans change."

"That's good news," Knuckles said.

"I feel bad for poor Buck," Tails said, "We managed to get the bullet out, but he's got to walk with a crutch for a while. On the brighter side, he's pressing charges against the military for open firing on an unarmed, private citizen."

"They've already got decent media coverage right out the gate," Amy said. "Sympathy is a great opening argument."

"With Re'kar's connections, they're able to travel back home safely by land this time," Tails added.

"Really sorry I couldn't be there to help," Knuckles said remorsefully.

"You were there, buddy," Sonic assured him, "You were the one who had the connections to get us out of there. If you didn't show up at this party, who knows what would have happened. Drunk or not, you hauled ass. Plus, you were oddly insightful," Sonic revisited the moment they got in.

" _I need you to move, now," Re'kar said and vacated Knuckles off the tattoo bench to a nearby chair._

" _I still have work to do," D said as they laid Buck up on the bench in his place. "Oh, never mind," he said and went to Knuckles and continued his work. "I'll have to finish it here. So, what happened?"_

" _Lock the gates and make sure the cameras are up and running!" He shouted out the door to his maid, "Shit happened. Lots of shit."_

" _Woah, dude," Knuckles said, "You got shot. That's not cool. Did it go through?"_

" _I don't fucking know!" Buck said loudly._

" _Well, do ya got one hole or two holes?" he clarified._

He checked. " _Fucking one!" he said._

" _Then use a magnet to get the bit out." Knuckles insightful stupor halted the tweezers that were fast approaching his wound._

" _Good idea," Sticks said and busted her device apart to locate the powerful magnet within. "This is a little more important than aliens."_

 _After they fished out the bullet, Buck was sewn up. "Thank you guys. You're a life saver. Sorry about the lip, Chopper," Buck apologized for his language._

" _There is a time and there is a place. This is both," he said reassuringly._

" _I don't have much along the line of pain killers, but I've got enough booze to spare." Re'kar held up a nearly empty bottle of moonshine. "There's more downstairs."_

" _Bring it on!" Buck said enthusiastically._

" _Shots all around!" Knuckles raised a fist in the air._

 _D lowered Knuckles fist, "Arms down. One more drink and that's it."_

 _Sonic looked over to Amy who had tears streaming down her face. "Are you okay?"_

 _She made no eye contact with anyone, "So much blood."_

" _Hang on," Knuckles said and rotated his chair so his back was facing completely away from the crowd. "How's that?"_

" _I think the damage was already done," Sonic said and watched Re'kar as he poured hard liquor over Buck's wound to sterilize it and wash the blood away._

 _Buck pointed to his mouth, "And one in here; a nice big one," he said and had the booze poured directly into his mouth._

"I think that's all I remember," Knuckles said as he pondered.

"After that last drink you fell asleep in the chair," Sonic told him, "That's all we heard from you last night. Although...speaking of last night," Sonic stated and tried to activate his communicator.

Tails hand shut off Sonic's device and he intervened, "W-we went over the birth records with Re'kar this morning. We were able to find a bunch of your relatives in a place called Lush Valley."

"Speaking of 'Lush'," Sonic tried to take the floor once again.

Sticks yelled, "The lush foliage! It helped us get away! Did you know this house is built over a series of tunnels carved out by your echidna ancestors. Even if the foliage wasn't there, they'd lose us in the subterranean labyrinth."

"Speaking of 'getting lost', let's say, in someone's pecks," Sonic made one final attempt before he had objects thrown at him. A cup and several forks were effortlessly dodged.

"Pecking order!"Tails yelled, "If you didn't have the pecking order down of you, to Jules, to Re'kar and to his cousins, we'd have been stranded."

Knuckles caught on to what was happening, "...show me what you want to show me, Sonic," he said while making direct eye contact with his blue friend.

Sonic paused and sat up straight. "Sure," he said as the other two sat quietly ashamed.

Amy chortled, "This is too good!" She slapped her knee.

"I have one of you from way back, sweetheart," Sonic said 'as a matter of fact'ly' and pushed the button to begin. He ignored Amy's protests. "Rum Jungle Volley," he said and the first memory played.

"I love home movies," Knuckles said as he sat and watched.

* * *

Gotta get some more 'funny' in before we're done. ^-^


	23. Chapter 23: Night Out 2

I'm no good at setting up flashbacks, so frig it, I'm doing it this way.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 23: Night Out - Part 2-**_

* * *

 _Last night._

The party grew in size. All kinds of guests beyond Re'kar's family showed up. Activities moved out into his large back yard. The pool was closed for the evening, but the hot tub was running. A small court for basketball was being used by a couple, who practiced their long shots.

Tails looked to the large buffet table that was being loaded with food ordered from local restaurants. There was even a fountain punch bowl. It had pieces of frozen fruit floating in the bottom. The orange drink flowed over the sides of the triple tiered centrepiece and back to the basin. "Re'kar, do you know if this has alcohol in it?"

Re'kar shrugged, "Probably," he said and dumped half a bottle of rum in. "Now I'm _sure_ it does." He left to find other thirsty party members.

"Not quite what I meant," he said and held a glass under the fountain stream.

"Ooh, Tails is being bad," Sonic said and circled around Tails with his communicator capturing the moment.

"Don't record this," Tails said, bemused.

"Knuckles isn't here to see the party; I gotta make sure I have proof of the fun we had after we got back. Is that so wrong? Uh...your glass if half full." He pushed his friend's hand under the flow again. "And I'm kidding. I checked it out, you aren't being bad; the legal drinking limit around here is eighteen."

"That's good to know," he took a sip and washed it around in his mouth.

"It's not wine, bro," Sonic assured him.

"I can't taste liquor at all." He scooped up a frozen orange wedge and dropped it in his glass.

He chatted with Tails for a few minutes before he noticed the guest list growing again. "More guests," Sonic looked over to the door where Re'kar was inviting a few more people out to the back yard. "Relatives this time."

The new group discussed some things they would be able to do outside in the low light. The party members present were exceptionally athletically inclined and craved activity.

"Why not play volleyball?" Tails suggested to them.

"What's that," one of them asked.

Tails eyes lit up. "Re'kar, do you have something to make a tall net with? And a ball?"

"I have the tennis equipment on the side of the house," he said and pointed.

"Alright," he said and found a spot to put down his half finished beverage.

Sonic handed off his device for Amy to continue recording.

A few minutes of rigging later, Tails and Sonic managed to set up a makeshift net. They even found a soccer ball to substitute for a volley ball and began to play a game. Sonic played fair and kept the super speed off. When they got a few points on one another, Tails legs began to go noodly on him. "I think they got the jist of how to play," he said and kept his balance, "We should let them have it now."

"One more," Sonic said and served.

"What?" With a slowed reaction speed the ball clipped him in the head and he stumbled back and landed flat on his rear in the grass. He laughed at himself as Sonic came over to help him up.

"I win, I guess." He tossed the ball to one of the others and they picked up the game again.

Tails thought out loud, "It occurs to me, there's only one ball. Why's it called 'volleyball'? The word 'volley' means- " he got cut off by a 'pop and hiss'. They looked over to find that one of the relatives had punched the ball instead of serving it and popped it on a knuckle spike.

"I got this," Sonic said and became the ball for a few rounds. He coiled tight and spun to minimize the damage.

"Found new balls!" Re'kar shouted and tossed them in there with Sonic. By the end of it, Sonic and four other balls were in the air being bounced between a half dozen guests.

"Now THAT'S volleyball!" Tails declared and cheered the spectacle.

Amy was sure she got it all on camera.

When Sonic couldn't take anymore he launched himself away from the play area and various balls were all that remained. "Shouldn't have eaten before I did that," he said and laid on the grass.

"You okay?" Amy asked and filmed him.

"I'm good," he chuckled. "I'm just gonna lay still for a few minutes." He shut his eyes and calmly breathed.

"Amy, Amy, Amy," Sticks came up from behind and wrapped her arms around the aforementioned friend, "Don't drink from that bowl," she said slowly with a chin on Amy's shoulder.

"Sticks, you sound tipsy," she said and turned the video feed and caught both of their faces in the shot.

Her cheeks and the tips of her ears were pinkened. "I am! I didn't mean to. I drank from this bowl with the fruit and now I'm doomed. Who does that to fruit? I thought I could trust fruit," she sobbed, "I can't trust fruit, Amy! Fruit! Now, they're going to get me! My brain is all mushy and squishy," she gasped, "Those two words mean the same thing! It's happening already!"

"What's happening?" An echidna guest asked her, "Who's giving you trouble?"

Sticks looked over the very muscular guest and sighed, "Aliens. They get you when ya least expect it."

He gave it some thought, "I've got a keen eye for the stars and I haven't seen any activity since the meteor shower last month."

"Really? You sure about that," she said wistfully and let go of Amy to allow her weight to fall on this handsome stranger. He caught her. "You'll keep me safe, won't'cha?" She jumped into his arms which he gladly offered up. "I bet if I got lost in your pecks they'd never find me again," she said and swirled a finger on his chest tattoo. "I mean, you look like you're covered in crop circles; they'll assume they've been here already and won't show up again."

"Uh, maybe," Amy had some reserves about letting her drunk friend go with a stranger.

He laughed. "I'll keep her safe." He smiled and pointed directly at the camera Amy was holding, "You have my word. I'm Re'kar's nephew, Xaun," he said and gave a thumbs up. Xaun walked off with his new badger friend in his arms to mingle.

"That's a relief," she said for the camera to hear. "Where did Tails run off to?"

She wandered around and found him talking in a group of mixed guests. "So, it's just this connection I feel with my machines, you know? I get so passionate when I talk about them it feels like, uh, excitement that I don't feel with anyone or anything else. It's hard to explain."

"Maybe talking about the connection with your plane isn't-" Sonic began.

"You'll never understand our love!" Tails said while laughing.

"I get ya, brother," one of the relatives said and extended a fist to bump. They bumped. "My workout equipment is an extension of myself. I feel a type of energy when I use it. When I get new equipment, I'm over the moon. And if I get a large enough piece of equipment," he cheersed with Tails, "I make love to my wife on it."

"See!" Tails said, "This guy gets it."

Another guest turned to Sonic, "Kinks and fetishes are more common than you think," she said. "I bet you have something kinky to add."

He blushed, "I don't think so."

"Yeah, you do. Remember before the boat trip," Amy said and whispered into his ear.

He blushed from head to toe, "That counts as a...?!" Sonic's perception of his own sexual habits had changed.

"What is it?!" Tails demanded, "Tell me!"

"No."

Tails tackled him, "Tell me!"

"He doesn't need to share," the female guest said with a chuckle.

Tails sat Sonic up in the grass and pointed a finger at his nose, "If I guess it, will you tell me?"

"...maybe."

They took their seats and Tails quietly said what he thought it was into his ear. Sonic sat there saying nothing. "That's it, isn't it!?" Sonic looked away from Tails, "THAT IS IT! I knew it. Just a hunch."

Amy was laughing as she recorded everything.

"Have you been recording this whole time?" he said with fear.

She giggled, "I sure have."

"Okay, I think that's enough for now. Bye, Knuckles," he said and killed the feed.

 _The next day._

Tails smirked, "You kink shame me while we sit in the same boat," he said and clicked his tongue in disapproval.

"Yeah, whatever," Sonic dismissed.

"You ready to go?" A familiar voice said from the doorway.

"Hey, Xaun," Jules waved.

He waved back. "Yo."

"Yep," Sticks said and excused herself from the room.

"Where are you going?" Amy asked.

She turned around and nodded her head back once, "I'm gonna go get lost for a while." They left.

"Well, I'll be dammed," Sonic said. "So, does anyone know how long we're able to stay here?" he asked the room.

"Let's go ask Re'Re," Jules said.

The group was off to see how long they were welcomed as guests.

* * *

So close to the end, I can taste it. O_O


	24. Chapter 24: Here and Now

Yeah so, we legalized pot here in the great white north, and my last couple days... _weeks,_ have been pretty, incredibly, _very,_ chill.

Between then and now, I housed a friend for a week and helped another friend move for 3 bloody rainy days in a row and my roommate has flipped her schedule so now she's working double time and is exhausted so I need to pick up the pieces and move the house around for new furniture. Add that on top of daylight savings and you've got the basket case that is ME!

Did I make OC's? What happened to them? XD

* * *

 _ **-**_ _ **Chapter 24: Here and Now**_ _ **-**_

* * *

The group of four found Re'kar still tending to the greenhouse. He assured them they were welcomed. "You're free to stay as long as you need; I only ask you help out around the house. I have a maid who cleans a few times a week, but my wife and I could use a couple extra hands with the gardening. Watering, light pruning and rotation. Simple stuff."

"Even the rooftop garden?" Jules slyly asked, "Gonna let us touch your babies?"

He laughed gently, "I have a child now, no need for transference. I'll fill you all in on how to get everything ready for shipment after lunch." He looked up at the clock on the greenhouse wall. "We should be hearing from the caravan sometime shortly."

"Wait, what's that?" Knuckles asked.

Re'kar clarified. "The caravan? It's the dozen or so folks I sent with Jami and the others to keep them safe while they travel home. I told them to check in with us at the foot of Mount Zune."

 _Meanwhile, a short distance away from the mountains..._

The caravan finally paused for food, fire and bathroom breaks after a long night of travelling. They would be at the new city within the hour. Jami spoke to the group about being noticed. Along with a wardrobe change, any easily recognizable traits needed to be dealt with. She had a difficult conversation with Chopper. "Ya know it would be easier if you cut dem, brother," Jami said as she held scissors and approached slowly.

Chopper was trying to back away but the pick-up truck didn't allow him to go very far. "Can we cut half?" He desperately held his shoulder length dreads behind his head. "Two thirds," he haggled.

Jami tilted her head to the side with a light shake.

"No-no, think about it," he reasoned, "They'll be expecting me to shave these off to avoid being noticed. BUT! If I had a slightly shorter cut, they probably wouldn't think twice about me. Seriously, I'm not trying to fool you," he continued to back up until he heard buzzing from the ground behind him. It was Pami. She held battery powered clippers. "Oh damn. I'm not getting away from you," he sighed and reluctantly sat down where he was on the bed of the truck. "Make it quick."

"I agree with you," Pami said and hopped up.

"I'll mark that on the calendar...when we get one," he said sarcastically.

"He has a point on shaving it all," Pami said to Jami. "Tying your dreads is too familiar; cutting them all off is too exaggerated." She threw a blanket around the sad emu and began to shaved a fade into the back and sides of his head. She took the scissors from Jami and cut his dreads until they hung shorter around his face and forehead more. She sealed off the style by shaving a few decorative lines in the shortened parts. "There, still sophisticated looking." She showed him a mirror.

He admired it from all angles, "You _can_ cut hair," Chopped chuckled warmly, "Thank you, Pami."

"I told you Mili and I were hair dressers. And a damn good ones too," she said and proudly stood over her creation. "How do you think I impressed this one?" She quickly gave his sister a peck on the cheek.

"Plus, this is still long enough to do a top knot," Mili said and scooped his hair up and held it fast with her tail tip.

Chopper gasped. He didn't see or hear Mili approach or enter the truck. He laughed and shooed her away. "You would like a 'ninja' hairstyle, wouldn't you? I think I'll let it hang loose."

"You're thinking samurai, dude," she laughed.

Buck hobbled onto the back of the truck with a crutch on the wrong arm. "I hate walking with this fuu-gawd damn thing," he said and tossed it inside the truck and hopped up on one foot.

"Use it on de other arm," Jami suggested.

"Nah, then I can't properly hop. I'd rather hop on one foot like a fool than walk around like all you normies," he said and lit up a cigarette.

"Do you really need to do that in the back of the truck?" Pami asked and waved a hand.

"Oh! Excuse me! I'll go sit in the dirt with my open wound to smoke, instead," he said spat off the edge of the truck, "Piss off."

"We're all on edge and over-crowded," Chopper spoke over Mili as she muttered 'it's not an open wound anymore'. "We'll have to be patient with one another until we get home."

His sister piped up, "Exactly; and now dat we've these documents, we're in the clear...so long as we make it back to our own country." She opened her pack to see the papers from Amy nestled at the bottom, tightly wrapped in a few lengths of plastic, for dryness. "All the royal family trees up to twenty years ago is more dan enough to get our foot in the door. And we have all the proof we need right here," she said and showed off the bright green patch of plumage on her bust.

"Titties?" Buck asked abruptly.

Jami laughed, "No. I'm female, but I have these coloured feathers. Only males are supposed to be coloured dis way. Nor are females supposed to have long tail feathers like me. Now that we have birth records proving the child born to the royal family was a girl and not a boy like people see in the pictures, I can-" She corrected herself, " _We_ can go back."

"I doubt your family will accept me. I'm only half blooded," Chopped said.

"It's **our** family. Yes they will. I know my mother-rest her soul-would have cared for you as if you were her own. It's time we stop separating people and start bringing dem together."

"And all this time I thought you guys knew each other for a long time and lived together, and stuff," Buck said as he flicked his smoke. "Y'all never talked about it until now."

"Secrecy was key. The less you knew, the safer you would be," Chopper assured him.

"That worked out swimmingly," he said and pointed to the gunshot wound.

"I meant in our home town." Chopper said, "I lived with my adoptive family since I was about four...you would have been seven."

"Yes. I do remember you in the early years." Jami nodded. "That same year, my family sent me to live at a boarding school. When I was done with school a few years ago, no one came to get me, no one left a number to call. The school gave me the rest of my retainer of money and I was out on my own for the first time. I had plenty of money left over to get started, but it was a limited supply. I looked for work and a place to stay. That's when I met Pami and lived with her until recently. She was how I met Mili."

Mili chimed in, "I was the one who introduced Chopper and Jami again. I heard Jami talking about looking for family when she was at the salon. She showed this _super old_ picture to Pami. It was one in a million, but I knew of a guy who was adopted right down the road. He was quiet and kind of stuck up, or so I thought. I never talked to him myself, but I always seen him walking with you," she said to Buck, "I'm guessing you were a bodyguard of sorts."

Buck nodded.

"It was far too juicy a coincidence to _not_ look into it," she said and rubbed her hands together. "That's why I broke into your house and looked around for clues."

"What?! When?!" Chopper was shocked.

She continued while she ignored Chopper's outrage, "I wanted to see if the family was good or crooked or whatever, and I found out they were being paid to keep quiet about who Chopper really was. I was spotted, but I got out before anyone actually saw me."

"This is when you came back to tell me about what you found," Pami said. She pointed to her partner, "And you found _us_ talking about getting out of town."

"I thought da best bet of finding my brother was to go to da big city and start asking questions. But when Mili showed up with this information, we decided to stay for a while. We meet. We talk. We connect. After a few months, that's when things started to go bad. People caught on to who I was."

"I think this is where I come in," Buck said, "It was the Star Ceremony."

"Yes," Jami said, "Much like last night, I'll carry it in memory for years." She sighed as she remembered. "After we showed up at the town centre for the festival, we went our own ways to see the sights. That's when they, whoever they were, grabbed you," she said to her brother.

He quickly took her hand. "It was bumps and scrapes and maybe a bruise or two. I was fine."

"I know," she said and blotted a tear, "It seemed like it was my fault they attacked you. I was who they were looking for. I don't blame myself, I blame them. I only wish I could have done something."

Buck butted in. "Don't worry. I busted a couple lips and threw one guy into the swamp," he said with a snicker. "You do NOT box with a kangaroo. I thought everyone knew that." They all laughed.

Mili continued. "That's when we started making _real_ plans to get the hell out; but Chopper couldn't get time alone to talk because of his strict family. But hey, I guess now we know why they were strict." Mili pulled out a small sheet of paper from her over the shoulder bag. "I saved this for a keepsake. It's the checklist we made to get us out of town." She handed it to Buck.

He read aloud, "Step one, safety in numbers. Step two, trust is essential, make sure everyone's on board. Step three, find a way from A to B. Step four, have exit strategy for first three steps," he handed back the list before going over all the steps, "Vague and very unhelpful."

"That's the point," she said and pointed to little scuffs and scratches made with a pen all over the paper. "All these marks are code. This one has dots out of place so that means to flip it over and look for the out of place dots on the back, and right here, it's the address of a place we met to talk about our next step." She replaced it in her bag. "I'll have to teach you the code so we can safely talk to one another in the city. Chopper's still learning."

"It's complicated, but it makes sense," he nodded and defended her point.

"Anyway. After we were sure you were on board, that's when we left. Gosh, a month takes forever to go by when you travel," Mili said.

They could hear a few people hollering in the distance.

"I think that's a sign to go," Buck said. "It's all really confusing. I'm baffled we're even going back. You can't want money and power that much. What about safety?"

Jami shook her head. "It's not about gaining status. It's about being able to make a change for my people, not only myself. A kind man said to me, 'If we don't help now, it's like I'm saying it's okay it's happening to you, just because it's not happening to me.'"

The trucks fired up and continued their journey to the city at the base of Mount Zune.

* * *

That was a long one, but I think I established character for my OC's.

If I decide to write anything more on them, I'll make another story. Too much info to jam in here all at once.


	25. Chapter 25: Passing the Days

:D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 25: Passing the Days-**_

* * *

"You understand that when I do this, you can't workout for a week, correct?" D stood over Knuckles ten days after giving him his first tattoo. All the room was dimly lit but for a lamp that D shone on the work area. His lines were perfectly traced once again.

The fully healed Knuckles centred himself with a deep breath. "Would it be possible to do one arm at a time? I could workout one arm while I waited for the other one to heal."

"And how do I compensate for the width differential when this arm is larger than the other. We took the stencil when your arms were the same circumference."

"I understood half of those words," he said and extended both arms simultaneously, "Let's do both."

"Hands and all?"

"Hands and all," Knuckles nodded.

"Start at the hands or end with them."

"End. Can you count me in like last time?"

"I certainly can." Since Knuckles sounded sure, he didn't hesitate. D began after counting to three, twice, once again.

His response was different that time. Knuckles managed to steady his breathing and put himself into a trance like state only a few minutes in.

Sonic appeared in the doorway. "Alright, we're all loaded up for the last trip of the day. We're stopping at Blob's on our way back. What do you wan-" he paused when he saw D hold up a finger to shush him. "Oh..." He took note of Knuckles composure. "We'll bring him back something," he said quietly and left.

Sonic headed down the hall and out the backdoor. A silent truck waited in the driveway.

"How is he doing?" Amy asked.

Sonic spoke confidently. "Knucks is in the zone. He didn't even look up when I came in. He sat perfectly still, meditating, I guess."

"Jules mentioned that people were giving him advice on how to manage pain. Maybe he took it to heart and remembered it," Tails suggested. He hopped into the driver's seat.

"And you're sure loading the truck isn't too much lifting?" Sonic asked again.

Amy smiled and nodded as she pushed the last box into place. She dropped the door of the moving truck. "Yes. Nothing heavier than fifteen pounds, I promise."

"And no lifting at the pizza shop?" he double-checked.

"I'm only filling in for Knuckles; he only worked with dough. They may get me on cash too, but that's all," she said and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Sonic got in the truck as Tails fired up the engine. He opened the door again and leaned out. "And you'll watch for spills so you don't slip?"

"Tails, leave!" Amy laughed and shut Sonic's door for him.

He rolled the window down as they rolled out of the driveway. "Stay away from oysters!"

"They don't even serve that!" Amy yelled as they pulled out onto the street. She sighed warmly at Sonic's paternal instincts moving into high gear.

Her last few days had been morning sickness free. The regular job of tending the gardens was soothing and the regular sleep schedule was also helping. Amy walked back to the house to get ready to help Mac at the shop. She thought about if she would feel the same when they eventually returned home. "I'll need to clean up my schedule and limit my activities." She activated her communicator screen and looked at all her plans that needed cancelling, right alongside the ones already cancelled. "Oh well, they'll manage without me."

"You folks and your computers," Re'kar said to Amy as he passed her in the halls. "They never cease to amaze me."

She deactivated the screen to speak. "When you're as busy as me, you need a bit of tech to stay on top of it all."

"I can't argue with you there. The system Tails set up for me is a lot easier than putting it on paper. Smart kid, that one."

"Most of the time. Where did you say you shipped to again?" she asked.

"The To-Co."

"How is that spelled?"

"T-o c-o."

"Is it an acronym?"

"No, t-o dash c-o. It's a nick name for Tonic Concentration."

Amy lit up. "That's the store!"

"What store?"

"The one I ordered from online; the one that I wanted to go to when I got here. I totally forgot about it until now. I'll have to go tomorrow, unless they're open past six. What time to they close?"

"They close at six."

"Darn. Tomorrow it is," she said and powered up her communicator again to set a reminder.

"The name is on the boxes you guys help me ship. I write it there, right alongside the boxes contents."

Amy paused. "...in English?" She had been moving things to a truck and never thought to question it.

Re'kar laughed a little, "I think I know why Tails wanted me to have a digital program for all this."

Amy embarrassed herself a little. She chuckled along with him, "I'm sure if I took more time I would be able to understand it."

He smiled, "You're all right," he said and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "I'm a chef, not a calligraphy artist."

They both went in to check on Knuckles. As Sonic said he would be, he sat there still. D had moved to the side to continue the first of two lines on Knuckles arms. Re'kar backed Amy away before she spotted any blood.

"I heard from the caravan. They've passed the border," he reported.

"That's good news. I hope no one intercepts their connection with us. It's wonderful we can stay updated, but are they at risk of being spied on?" she asked.

"I guarantee everyone was equipped before they left. Scramblers and back up scramblers aren't in short supply. Not to mention, my boys have clout, they aren't just menacing. Anyway, I wanted to catch the others before they left, but you can tell them when they get back. I won't be back until midnight."

"Thanks for the update."

After the drop off, Tails and Sonic returned with food for everyone. "He's still at it?" Sonic asked.

Amy nodded. She filled the guys in on the status of their friends from the south and they breathed a sigh of relief. It would be a long time before they see change, but it was a start.

* * *

I knew my time machine was working. ;P


	26. Chapter 26: Teeming With Energy!

;P

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 26: Teeming With Energy!-**_

* * *

The growing season for the rooftop garden came to a close. Amy swept debris away with a pressure hose and guided it to a drainage hole at the back of the house. Despite a few protests from Sonic, Amy refused to stop working. Her belly was beginning to show a little and he was getting protective. In compromise she agreed to not lift beyond ten pounds, but that was it.

Their time in the city was drawing to a close. Everyone agreed to stay long enough to close the roof up for the winter months. The city they were in didn't usually get a lot of snow, but it saved on the heating bill if the roof was properly shielded.

Amy wanted to see the city during a snowfall. "Next year, we'll come back and see the snow together," she said to her growing bump. She went back downstairs and let Kai-Li know she finished cleaning.

"Thank you again. You've all been such a big help these last two months."

"No problem. Thank you for having us for so long."

"You're welcome to stay as long as you want," she said and repositioned baby Al-Ma on her hip. She was alert and watched Amy talk.

"We would love to stay longer," she said, then leaned down and sweetly spoke to the baby, "But if we do, we're going to need an entire cargo ship to take us home." Amy wasn't going to deny her shopping habits had changed since she hit the city. Having a regular income and boundless shops made her to go a little crazy. She wasn't alone. Knuckles started a music collection, Tails was teeming with gadgets and parts while Sticks accumulated paranoia paraphernalia from her new alien stalking buddies. Sonic was the only one who managed to travel light and had a small stack of hard to find comics; he held off reading them until he got back.

Kai-Li nodded knowingly. "The city has many interesting places to explore; as if it goes on forever. Your island must feel a little small by comparison."

Amy sat at the table to talk, "It does, but the city can be overwhelming at times. It's never quiet here. There's always someone coming or going at all hours. The island isn't silent at night, but it's quiet. Admittedly, I do miss it. Have you ever been off the mainland?"

"I haven't."

"You should come visit Seaside Island some time when Al-Ma can come along. You can go whenever you want because it's tropical; we have no winter. We have a snowy mountain, but that's it."

"That sounds exotic. I think Re travelled for a time in his younger years."

Amy and Kai-Li chatted while the TV prattled on in the background.

"Sorry to interrupt, but look at this. This is where we're from," Amy said. She turned up the volume of the commercial she helped make to showcase the island as a resort town.

After watching the whole thing she said, "That does look like a place worth visiting. It's got a rustic-comfort edge with a sense of 'roughing it in the wild'."

Amy laughed, "I can attest to some being better at 'roughing it' than others. I do worry the island will become overcrowded and noisy, but our economy isn't doing the best right now. We really need a _boom_ to help give us a boost."

"I know of a man with a barge. He usually ferry's folks around from port towns to obscure places. I bet if you got enough people to pay their way, you could get him to bring you to the island, and you can make monthly or even weekly trips."

"That sounds perfect. If I get in touch with the comity back home, we can set up a luau for the night when people arrive and have him bring them all back the next day." Amy let the idea fly around in her head. "This could work really well...let me talk to everyone about it."

"The commercial will have long term benefits, but things work better when they travel by word of mouth in the early stages. I know plenty of mouths that like talking," she said and pulled out a rolodex of numbers. "Re may like the switch to digital, but I'll stick with my analogue." She looked up and called her friend with the barge. "...okay...perfect. Thank you, Zeke. We'll get back to you as soon as we have the numbers." She hung up. "He can fit a maximum of a hundred and fifty people. At twenty bucks a head, it's not worth the trip if you have any less than seventy bodies. You break even at fifty. Keep those numbers in mind, they're only for the boat. You may feel it's worth it if you can make it back through sales when folks land."

"You really know your stuff," Amy complimented.

"It's why I've been in business a long time. Other than word of mouth, what about other advertising beyond the commercial?"

"I'll use your idea of going analogue. I can design a flyer to put up in the streets; maybe leave a few at some of the fancy shops in town. I know Kitty will let me put one up in the flower shop for sure. Blob treats us like family, I'm sure he'll let us post one, heck, he may want to come along; he's a barbecue enthusiast. Oooh, the possibilities are endless. And since this is a metaphorical burden, I can carry as much as I want!" Amy got up quickly and the baby raised her hands in shock. Amy raised hers too. "Right on! We can do this!"

Al-Ma squeaked.

"She sounds as enthusiastic as you," Kai-Li laughed. "I'll call some friends and plant some seeds, see what grows. They may be able to suggest some popular city trends you could use for inspiration."

"I'm going to make some calls of my own. See how soon we can get this luau up and running." What started out as a vacation turned into a run for her life, then a live-in internship and now she moved on to being a community event planner. Amy never stopped. She was always on the move.

Kai-Li placed Al-Ma into her pouch and swaddled herself in a thin over the shoulder wrap.

"Staying in your pouch for another three months is like being pregnant all over again for you. Isn't it?" Amy asked with wide eyes.

"Except it doesn't feel like birth each time," she said and fired up her phone again. "As soon as I can't tolerate the spikes she's out." They laughed. "How far along are you?" She began to notice Amy's baby bump more in the last week.

"I have four and a half months left."

"I thought you were further along. Don't push yourself too much. Get the others to pitch in."

"Of course," Amy went to walk away but she was stopped in her stacks by an odd sensation. "Oh no, what was that?" She was frozen.

Kai-Li got up to see what was wrong, "Did you hurt your back?"

"No...a flutter...just now." She stood up straight. "I don't know...it..." Then it happened again in the same spot on her right hand side. She placed her hands quickly over it. She felt a kick. "It kicked! My baby kicked! Oh, my god, SONIC! They kicked! They're kicking me!" Amy ran off to get Sonic before the movement stopped.

"Don't trip!" Kai-Li smiled warmly as Al-Ma squeaked from her mother's pouch. "I can feel you kicking too," she said and rubbed her baby from outside her clothing.

* * *

Amy is 90cm, hedgehogs on average are about 20cm. Amy is 4.5 times the height of a hedgehog. A hedgehog gestation is about 40 days. 40 times 4.5 is 180 days divided by 30 days in a month, you get 6. But, for argument's sake, I added a month. So there you have it, seven months for an anthropomorphic hedgehog to give birth...I think I put too much thought into this. XD

To any of you out there who've been pregnant before, you know how wild it is to feel life moving inside you. I'll never forget it. 0_0


	27. Chapter 27: Double-Checked

;D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 27: Double-Checked-**_

* * *

After a solid two weeks of canvasing and plugging their home to strangers, the barge to Seaside Island was filled. Amy was on the line with Dr. Eggman. "We weren't banking on any more than about fifty people, but we ended up with a full load of a hundred and fifty. Would you be willing to open your base up as a hotel again?"

 _"For a price,"_ he had a playful tone to his voice.

"Of course; I can't give you a figure right now. It would only be for one night. We can discuss your additional cut when we get back." She took a long drink of water.

 _"Wonderful. You know, it's been so boring without you guys around. I even made a new robot for you all to fight. I know we've been on peaceful terms for a while now, I just want to shake off the cobwebs, you know, gotta stay sharp. A battle would definitely make for quite the spectacle. We can even take bets and cash in on it that way. Gambling is fun for the whole family!"_

Amy caught her breath, "Who's family? Never mind, it sounds good." Amy marked things down, "Alright, we'll need a permit for gambling and one to book the arena for the fight...you do realize we always win? We won't make money if the people know who to bet on." She cracked another bottle of spring water.

 _"The first fight, yeah, you win. From there, we'll draw straws and stage the fights between the robots. Like professional wrestling, it'll all be coordinated. Easy-peasy entertainment."_

"Safety is still a concern. We don't want it too violent or else it could scare off potential patrons who want to buy land and set up shop. Remember, the size of your cut will depend on how successful all this is. We'll be leaving tomorrow evening and we should arrive the following morning."

 _"I'll have my robots to set everything up."_

Amy ended their transmission and took another long drink before she called the council. "The doctor is in. We can hold off on the tents."

" _Thank goodness. Even with the temporary town we wouldn't have had enough,"_ the mayor sounded relieved.

"I say we put up a few dozen anyway. Some people like the 'roughing it' experience. Make three different camps. One on the beach near the luau, one near the gardens and one in the jungle itself. The hotel is for everyone else." She took a sip.

" _That sounds a little spooky."_

"Exactly. Sticks said she'll keep it real, but not too terrifying. We're going for variety." In their effort to find out what the people wanted, they discovered that the vast majority had a very skewed view of what a 'tropical island' really was. "We've got the exotic vacation paradise both indoors and out, the exploration of local flora and fauna, and the terror of the actual dangerous parts of the island; give the people a little bit of everything and let them pick."

" _That reminds me. One of our moderators suggested we avoid Gogoba village. Now I don't want to exclude anyone, but if they make people feel guilty about their vacation, I'm worried we may lose traffic."_

"I've already gotten that taken care of. I spoke to the chief and they all agreed to take a vow of silence. It's their way of giving the cold shoulder; it's still guilt tripping and isn't dishonouring their culture. They said we can paint it for the public whatever way we wanted, so long as they got paid. I'm thinking we should go with 'they remain silent in the presence of royalty'. That should flatter our guests nicely."

" _You sly girl. I like the way you think."_

"They even have a few traditional activities they can carry out in silence while folks are there. I think he said they would weave the 'guilt quilt', or something."

" _I don't know what we'd do without you, Amy Rose."_

Amy raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Thank you. I'm sure you'd manage fine on your own though." She ended the call with the mayor and crossed more things off her list. She finished the second bottle. "The home stretch...stocking the barge with food for the trip, making sure maintenance is sparkling." She called up Julie-Su. "Hey, how's the engine looking?"

" _Squeaky clean, provided you ignore the oil; it's running flawlessly. It's still a baby with less than fifty-thou on her."_

"Uh, I guess that's good to hear." Amy opened a third bottle of water and took a mouthful. She shivered and got up to boil water for tea.

" _My crew is meticulous. Jo even upgraded the GPS unit on deck. Tails found the parts and helped us put it in few hours ago; she's working like a charm. We fired it up and calculated the time to travel to the island. At our most comfortable, top speed, we're looking at thirteen and a half hours, start to finish. If we want to be on the island right after all the cargo ships leave, we leave port no earlier than five-thirty pm."_

"Got it," Amy said and marked it all down. "If we leave later, that's no big deal. We should aim to have everyone boarded by eight though."

" _Cool. When are they coming to drop off the food? If we have something running, we may not hear them knock."_

"They gave me a time window between two and five. They'll call me when they're on their way; I'll call you back then."

" _Alright, later,"_ Julie-Su said and hung up.

Amy crossed the completed tasks from her list. As Amy guzzled another large portion of water, her insides shuffled. "Woo, settle down," she said and held her tummy. She made herself a cup of tea and sat down to take a breather. The activity she felt inside grew more each day; the baby movements sometimes woke her from sleep. She sipped her tea and rested it on her belly. The movement intensified. Amy removed her cup. "Oh, too hot? Sorry," she said with a lighthearted laugh. "I finally get to take a peek at you today."

A short while later, a petite, lady sphinx came in and set up an ultrasound machine. When ready, she invited everyone in and greeted Amy, "Hello," and shook her hand.

Re'kar spoke to the doctor, "Dr. Sang, this is Amy Rose; Amy, Dr. Sang is who cared for Kai-Li and I while we were expecting." He took a seat with the others in the room.

The nursery in his house was lined with chairs and sofa's. Everyone gathered around to view the ultrasound. Re'kar's nephew Xaun was also welcomed to the viewing, he and Sticks were the last to show up.

"How far along did you say you were?" The doctor asked as she felt along Amy's bump.

She squirmed with an uncomfortably full bladder. "Three and a half months."

"You are quite big," Dr. Sang said.

Sonic placed his hands behind his head and sat there looking proud. "What can I say? It's a gift."

She slathered Amy in a warm blue gel. "You must be the daddy?" she asked and saw Sonic nod.

Amy was surprised. "Ooh, it's warm. People told me it was cold and slimy."

Dr. Sang laughed, "I warm the gel on the monitor before I use it. They were right about it being slimy though," she said and pressed the transducer to Amy's baby bump.

"Yeah, that's gross." Amy winced at device moving around.

"Don't worry, when you get further along you won't even have to drink so much water for this," the doctor assured her. She tried to get a good angle of what she was seeing.

"That's good to know. I'm busting."

"Why do you have to drink water?" Sonic asked.

The doctor chimed in, "It helps move the uterus forward. We get a clearer picture of who's inside that way...and there they are," she said. A head and a tiny beating heart could be seen on the monitor.

The room was all 'coo's' and words of adoration. Sonic got up and got closer to the monitor. "That's so cool. You can see it beating in real time." His finger landed on the heart as it twitched away on the screen.

"That's about the actual size of the heart. The monitor get's it as close as possible."

Sonic held a thumb up. "It's not even the size of my thumb. Wow," he said and stood in quiet awe.

The doctor felt around and shifted the image, it showed a head and heart on screen once again. She smiled widely. "Do you want to know gender?"

"Yes." Amy and Sonic said in usion.

"Okay, give me a moment." She moved the transducer all over Amy's abdomen and finally said, "Boys."

A bout of silence and awe grasped them.

Amy was the first to speak, "Come again?"

"Look," she said and grinned, "One, two...one, two." She flashed back and forth between the two differently positioned heads and hearts.

"No way!" Sonic whispered loudly and took Amy's hand in both of his own and raised the bundle to cover his mouth. He stammered, nearly sounding like he was going to burst into tears. He finally looked Amy straight in the eyes and smiled wryly, saying, "They're going to be nothing but trouble," he said though disbelieving laughter and a slowly shaking head.

Amy shook her head in return. She said through similar disbelieving laughter, "Don't you dare."

Sonic nodded and kissed her deeply, then said, "Oh yes!" He laughed a little louder. "They are my little hell-spawns!" he hugged Amy's upper half tightly and kissed the side of her face.

"Someone, please help me," Amy asked desperately, in good fun.

"We'll help however we can, Amy," Knuckles said, "But none of us are fast enough to stop Sonic. Now we gotta chase three of him? Hah."

Sonic came up from his hug and whispered loudly into her ear, for the whole room to hear, "Do you realize the people we're going to mess with? Especially if they're identical! Can you imagine all the hijinks?!" Sonic gasped, "This is why Egghead tells us his evil plans! It feels good to see how on edge everyone is when they think of all the mayhem we're going to cause!" He laughed manically.

"Unless they're bookworms," Amy said and ended Sonic's reign. They exchanged an icy stare usually reserved for battle. "I'll put headphones on my belly and play classical music every night."

"I'll replace the tapes with heavy metal."

"I'll record over the tapes with 'how to learn German! Und es gibt nichts, was Sie dagegen tun können!"

Sonic scoffed, "Das werden wir sehen!" he rolled his eyes and corrected himself, "I told you to stop putting those on me!" They laughed and nuzzled one another.

"We'll figure something out," Amy said. "We should let the doctor finish."

"I'm managing fine," she said. Her work was nearly complete. After all the measurements were taken, Amy was given a predicted time for her due date. "Since you have twins, you may be looking at a cesarean if you carry too long. Keep that in mind. You may want to be induced sooner."

The doctor gave Amy a towel to wipe off the gel and handed Sonic a few items to read about what to expect during labour. Dr. Sang packed up and took her leave.

"Two mini Sonic's. How do you feel about that, Ames?" Sticks asked.

"I actually wanted to have two kids in my lifetime. All this means is I save time on becoming pregnant a second time."

"Unless I knock you up again," Sonic said with a chuckle.

"...we're getting you snipped."

"What?! No, we _are not_ get me snipped," Sonic protested.

"...we'll talk about it." The others snickered. "Anyway, I want to go out and get a new outfit for going home in. Something to show off the new curve I have," she said and gave the people a side view.

"I know of a place that you may want to check out," Xaun spoke up. "If you like To-Co so much, this place is the clothing outlet version of that store."

"That sounds perfect. Let's go," Amy said and slung a full purse over her shoulder. They were off to buy a new outfit to flatter her baby bump.

* * *

What Amy said was "And there's nothing you can do about it,", Sonic replied, "We'll see."

If I get any ideas for fluff pieces, I'll make a separate fic for them. There's stuff I'm glossing over that could be it's own thing, but I'm keeping focused on my original story. :D


	28. Chapter 28: Homebound

We've come so far. :D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 28: Homebound-**_

* * *

The docked ferry swayed lightly on the waves. Folks showed up with their boarding pass and Sonic punched their tickets, checked them off and sent them on deck. Each time someone laid foot on the gangplank, he witnessed the pronounced bob of the boat.

Amy signed for a package of children's toys and allowed them to board. She noticed Sonic as they passed by him. She approached her partner. "How are you holding up?"

He shook his head slowly. "Did you know you can get seasick before you get on a boat?" he asked. He gave her the list of passengers.

She took the clipboard from him, "I don't think so. That might be nerves talking-oh good, only ten passengers left-you're not feeling well?" She handed it back to him.

"I was sick a couple times already. But I didn't eat anything, so I'm fine. I can starve and dry-heave all night until we're home," he said with a defeated tone and rested his head on Amy's shoulder.

She sighed and gave him a snuggling hug, "If this all goes over well, we can actually start offering flights back and forth. But until then, we're sea-bound."

"I know," he was about to be kissed but turned his head and shielded his mouth, "Uh, cheek for now."

Amy gave him a peck, "Try to relax a bit. Do you want someone else to take over the list so you can lay in the grass?"

He shook his head, "I'll feel like crap either way...because..." he said and hesitated.

"What else is going on?" She could tell 'someone' had been on his mind for a while now.

"It's...Eggman."

Amy assured him, "I talked to the city counsel already; he's been good the whole time we've been gone."

"What if that's a lie? What if it's all fabricated and we're walking into a trap? Home could be a smoking hole in the ground right now; we'd be endangering all these people for no reason. What if he IS funding this southern war and this is all going back in his pocket and directly to them? Is there even a point for us to go back? Do we really want our kids growing up on an island that's funding terrorism? I can't seem to...get..." he paused, unable to finish his thought, and turned around to lean over the railing.

"Sticks," she spoke loudly and took the clipboard from Sonic. "Can you help with this?"

"Sure thing," She came over. "What happened to your aura?" Sticks asked. "I suppose they don't last too long. Shame." She was handed a clipboard and pen.

"I think it's more than 'water demons' this time," Amy said.

"I see. It could be anything from: Sunset goblins, sand sharks, seashell specters or the dreaded 'seafoam banshee'. I found one of those last night and made a charm if you think it'll help." She held up a string necklace of volcanic rocks.

"Does it work?" Amy asked skeptically.

"I haven't seen any more banshee's since, so yeah, I say it's working fine."

Sonic spat at the water and croaked out, "I'm manage without, thanks."

She put the jewelry on, "Suit yourself," she said and went off to help the last of the passengers board.

Amy asked a few moments later. "You alright?"

"...I think so."

"Let's go sit in the grass until it's time to leave."

"Okay," Sonic hobbled, exhausted, to the shady grass and crumpled to the ground to lay flat on his back. He saw Re'kar had pulled up to the port with Julie-Su and helped her get a couple bags out of the back. Knuckles scooped the bags and brought them on the boat. "Hey, Jules decided to come after all," Sonic said and pointed.

Amy looked over to where Sonic was referring. "Yep; and that sure doesn't look like an overnight bag," she and Sonic smiled at one another. "If you didn't get on the boat when you did, none of this would be happening. We wouldn't have met Jami and the others. We probably wouldn't have met Re'kar or Jules. We wouldn't be keeping the island financially afloat. We wouldn't have found out potential information about Eggman funding war overseas. All this happened because you faced your fear and got on a boat to help a friend."

Sonic covered his face with his hands, "No pressure though, right?"

She laughed a little and pat his knee, "It's a little pressure. The good kind of pressure that helps push you forward to do your best."

"How's it going?" Re'kar asked as he came up to and knelt down next to the expecting couple. "Shouldn't this be the other way around?" He saw Amy was comforting Sonic.

"Sonic needed a little encouragement to get on the boat," she said.

He nodded, "Knuckles told me you were seasick. I find that odd since you haven't been on a boat in months."

"The _thought_ of the boat is enough to inspire queasiness," he said and rubbed his temples.

"Understandable. I stopped by to drop off Jules and see you off. Hopefully it's a 'see you later' and not a flat 'goodbye'."

Amy stood up and nodded. "Of course. I want to come back next year around this time. I want to see the leaves change and the snow to fall." They exchanged contact information for the island in case either of them needed to reach the other for emergency purposes; it was also the only way they'd be able to hear from their friends from the south. "Thanks again for all your hospitality these last few months," she said and gave him a hug.

"Anytime. Give us a call when you're in town next." He leaned down and knocked gently on Amy's budding belly, "Hey, both of you, listen to your mum."

"Hey," Sonic sat up and pointed at him, "No tainting the youth."

"No promises," Re'kar laughed. He held direct eye contact with Amy and showed her what he had discretely palmed. "Mind if I have a minute to talk to Sonic before you guys go?"

Amy gave a knowing nod, "Oooh, I get it. Let's see if _you_ can coax away the water demons," she giggled and turned to leave. "I think there's only a couple passengers left. Don't take too long." Amy waved and disappeared onto the boat.

Re'kar looked at Sonic and nodded his head upward. "Let's move behind the brush, away from sight of the kids." He and Sonic sat out of sight of the others. He lit up and blew smoke over their heads, "Knucks also told me how you chilled out last time," he said and handed the spliff to the shaky hedgehog.

"It did help." Sonic took the joint in hand. "It is only one more night," he said and joined Re'kar for a farewell joint. After their session he stood up with the help of his large, tan coloured companion.

"Can you manage?"

"Yeah. If I think about it differently, it's not so bad." Sonic's eyes were very pink and relaxed looking. "When I think of this continent as a large boat floating on the water, and my island as another boat floating on water, I start to think there's no difference between the boat and the island. As in, they're both floating on the water. It makes me feel like I shouldn't see them as different at all. I'm just going to be on something different, to float around the world on...oh wow...that is some really good herb," he said and rubbed his eyes.

"I can tell!" Re'kar laughed. "Knuckles gave me a description of the flavour of what you had in that hookah on the way here; it was a mix of many different herbs, not just cannabis. This," he held up the remaining roach, "Was pure and uncut. It's probably hitting you pretty hard," he nodded deeply, "You'll sleep tonight for sure."

"I bet." Sonic bent at the knees and bobbed his who body up and down, "It feels like I'm on the water already."

"Sounds like you're ready to go."

He hugged his friend, "Thanks man; you're a mental lifesaver," he let go, "I never noticed till now, but you got a lot of tattoos."

Re'kar rotated his arm to show a blank space on the side and back of his right limb. "I'm getting one more that'll take up the whole triceps area." He took a paper out of his pocket. "I started drawing it the night we busted you out of camp." The drawing was an extremely complicated maze with thick black lines, thin vines travelled all throughout; the vines were done in green but an arrow showed the colour was to be white when finished. "It's a solvable maze too. I showed it to D and he told me to go fuck myself, but then he gave me a date to get this started; a very mixed message. Anyway, it should be done by the time I see you all next."

"Cool. Thanks again. Later," he said and sauntered onto the boat as if he'd done it a million times before. "Knucks! They got pirate hats and swords on the boat! Come on! We're pirates now!"

"Really?! Awesome!" Knuckles joined with no protest. The kids on board were more than happy to contribute to the hijinks as well. Sonic convinced Tails to become captain just so they could have a mutiny and tied him to a pretend mast. Swashbuckling and speaking with well pronounced 'R's' lasted until the lights were out.

* * *

Wank. XD


	29. Chapter 29: Up and Running

This is a long one. ;D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 29: Up and Running-**_

* * *

Amy changed into the new outfit she bought on the mainland. Re'kar's nephew Xaun suggested a lovely 'celestial' themed store, similar to the Tonic Concentration brand she ordered from online. They only carried naturally sourced and fair trade fabric. A lot of their clothing glittered. She bought as much as she could before they left.

She knotted a shimmering blue-nebula wrap at her side over a draped, white, halter dress. Both fabrics stopped at her knee at opposite angles in a triangular shape, the blue side hung down further by a couple inches. The wrap covered her bump perfectly. "There shouldn't be any question if I'm the only one in here anymore. What do you think?" she asked Sonic who was pulling himself out of bed.

His feet hit the floor like magnets to steel as Amy stood in front of him. "Shiny..." He hugged her at belly height, "And soft," he said and felt the backside of her dress. He squeezed her bum, "Very soft," he said with satisfaction.

"Not what I meant." She brought his face up to kiss her own. "You still look high." They kissed.

"You're dress is super pretty _and_ I still feel high," he said and went back to groping her bum with his sleepy cheek resting on her tummy. "Soooft-sparkles in the morning," he sing-songed like the radio news station jingle back home.

"We'll be docking in twenty minutes, roughly," she said and sadly had to pull away from Sonic's embrace.

"Bring back the softness," he said with closed eyes and outstretched arms groping the air.

"Not until you talk to Dr. Eggman first," she said.

His hands flopped at his sides on the bed. "Aaaw, any boner I might have had is gone now," he rolled his eyes, "Laaaame."

Amy giggled and took off out the door, "Work first, then you get all the softness later." She closed the door behind herself.

"Killjoy," he snickered and got up for the day.

His first run in was with Knuckles and Julie-Su leaning over the front of the boat. They watched the mountain on the island grow. Julie-Su looked through binoculars. Sticks was close by. "I've seen mountains before, but not with snow on top-well, not in person," Julie-Su said and looked all over the island.

Knuckles pointed out, "I live in the small brown hut with the straw roof, on the far right. Sonic gave it to me when he went to live with Amy a while ago."

She looked and said, "It looks like a fixer-upper."

"It's a piece-of-crapper," Sonic assured her as he walked up from behind them.

"Only a little," Knuckles laughed.

She was optimistic. "It needs a little TLC is all," Jules assured him back.

"It needs a little TNT," Sticks said with folded arms.

Knuckles followed up, "It also needs windows, doors, bedrooms, a proper kitchen, a bathroom, running water, heat; that's seven things...eight including the TNT...nine, if I want air conditioning."

They all paused in thought.

Sticks piped up, "You wanna stay in my burrow until Knuckles gets a crapper installed in his 'piece-of-crapper'?"

Knuckles nodded. "That might be a good idea. Unless you're fond of burying things," he said.

She laughed and agreed, "Alright. Burrow it is."

In no time, they docked with a thud. The group watched Sonic, cool as a cucumber, walk off the boat. He went down the dock onto the shore where he face planted into the sand. He gathered up as much sand as possible and hugged it, "Let's never fight again," he said and rested his head on the pile he created.

"I missed the sand too. Let me help, Sonic," Knuckles said and proceeded to bury his hedgehog friend. "Good, I'm not out of practice."

Sonic's head popped out from the top of the pile. "Thanks, buddy," he laughed. People began to disembark and Sonic's head greeted then, "Welcome-welcome. We've landed on the beautiful Seaside Island. Fun in the sun starts as soon as you're off the boat, as you can see." Knuckles put a tiny flag next to Sonic's head. "Don't forget to check out 'Meh Burger' first, so everything else seems that less disappointing by comparison," he said and got a few chuckles from the people passing by. Cynicism seemed to be a favourable selling point for the city-folk, as per Amy's research.

He emerged from the pile mid docking. "I'm gonna go see Eggman before my good mood is gone," he said and took off at full speed, leaving a pile of sand for the kids to climb on.

It was the first time he reached top speed since leaving the city. He made a few extra loops around town to check if everything was as peaceful as it seemed. "So far so good." Sonic grabbed a couple hand fruit off a tree on the way to Dr. Eggman's lair. He knocked and waited. Sonic breathed a sigh of relief as the former mad-doctor answered the door, still in his jammies, with Orbot and Cubot in toe. "I've never been happier to see you in your PJ's," Sonic said and took a bite of his hand fruit.

"Hello, Sonic; you're looking tired." Dr. Eggman was perceptive. "Come in, sit down. How was your trip?" He turned and walked with a cane.

Sonic handed the other fruit he picked to Orbot. "What the hell happened to you?" He was surprised to see the doctor wore a knee brace. The lines could be seen through he pink onesie.

"I blew out a kneecap trying to lift something," he said and flipped the kettle to boil. "The old grey mare, she ain't what she used to be. What's on your mind?"

"I'm here to check the status of the hotel."

"It's all set up. I even got hot tubs in the garden now. The bedrooms are pretty standard, as they were last time; but if I make enough I can have them redone in mahogany. It's very expensive."

He blinked slowly, "So I've heard," he said with a laugh.

Dr. Eggman examined Sonic's face, "...you look stoned." After a half second of pause, Sonic was sniffed by the crazy man, "...you smell stoned."

"Listen, Eggman, I gotta be honest, I was expecting the wors-" he was cut off.

"Get it out of the way the night before, I got ya," he said and poured them two cups of hot water, "Instant latte okay?" He held up a jar of coffee mix with milk added already.

"Sure." They walked through the facility and he showed off a few new features like massage chairs, and nail salon run by Bunny girl and Goat lady. A small convenience store kiosk was near the entrance. "Who's gonna run this?"

Orbot and Cubot quickly zipped behind the counter and posed. "We tried to get a permit for selling tobacco, but it took far too long to process in time," Orbot said

"But smoking's bad for you, so we're not gonna rush it," Cubot said and held up a chocolate bar and a can of pop, "We only sell healthy stuff right now."

"They're items from Mike's shop in town marked up for profit," Eggman said, "It saves the people a trip back to the shore."

They continued down to the garden. Eggman struggled with the stairs and Sonic gave him a hand. "How long are you in that brace for?" Sonic and Eggman handed their empty mugs to Orbot who took them away.

He took a seat at a nearby bench to bend and stretch his leg better. "This only happened a few days ago. I've got another week or two."

"And you want to have a battle? I hope you don't need to pilot whatever it is you made."

"No, it's automated," he said then pointed his cane to the side. "I think you're familiar with this section for sunbathing and enjoying the new hot tubs. I got a liquor license and I have Drinkbot mixing."

They were waved to by a robot with five arms, one of which was extendable and protruding out of it's back. The top arm wiped the counter of the tiki bar lined with six high stools as the other four arms stacked glasses, then broke them down again in rapid succession.

"I even programmed in bar tricks." They went over to the robot in question. "I'll pick a tricky one. Drinkbot, make a Zombie cocktail."

Drinkbot flawlessly tossed, spun, filled, shook and poured with accuracy and speed. When all was mixed, that fifth arm placed a glass down and it's palm opened to dispense ice. His index finger poured the mixed drink over the ice then pushed it toward Sonic.

"That's impressive," he took a small sip. "Nice."

"That one's on the house. Patron's are only permitted two of _those_ drinks a night. Don't need anyone too rowdy wrecking my lair. The only one who should be loaded is Drinkbot." Eggman pointed to the gauge on the side showing all the levels of liquor the robot had remaining. "There's even a drink limit for other beverages while staying here. If people want to get wasted they can sleep on the beach."

"That's fair," Sonic said. He watched the doctor head up the stairs with a lot of effort. "Is it just your knee you hurt? Your arms are moving kind of slow too."

Dr. Eggman hesitated and sighed. "I might as well show you," he said and led Sonic to a deeper part of his lab only accessible by a single elevator. On the ride down, he said, "I have spinal stenosis. It's getting worse as the years go by. I've had so many slipped disks or herniated disks, I can't even count anymore."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sonic assumed this was why the doctor had calmed down over the years.

"No need to be sorry for me," he said and the elevator doors opened to reveal something terrifying looking.

"Is that a spine?" Sonic said and laid his beverage down on the ledge leading down to a dark void. It looked like a mechanical spine with endless cords protruding from the sides. Robot arms welded bits and sparks flew in short bursts. A semi opaque red liquid was being pumped through the device.

"Yes," he said and made a sweeping motion with his arm, "I've nearly completed the automation of the surgery too."

"You're going to put in a new spine...by yourself?"

"I'll have a surgeon standing by to monitor me, but essentially, yes, I'm installing a spine augmentation. It has nanomachines to work on actually fusing it to my bone structure. I've got a replacement knee I'll be testing out first. That surgery I'm doing myself." Dr. Eggman pointed to another less terrifying looking device. It was a machine designed to be grafted over the knee joint to replace a kneecap. "If it goes well, I'll make a second knee joint and after I'm all healed from that, I install this beauty." He touched the case the spine was behind.

"What if this paralyses you?" he asked in a concerned tone.

Eggman looked distant, "That's where I'm heading now, except slowly and painfully. If something does go wrong and my body rejects the implants," he said and pointed to the far corner of the room where a motorized wheelchair sat. A life support machine was attached to the back of the seat. "I hope it doesn't come to that."

They headed back up to the surface. "I know we've had our differences in the past, but considering the state of everything, I think it's best we officially call a truce."

Eggman thought about it. "Normally I'm apt to lull you into a false sense of security...but I think you're right. Official truce," he said and warmly smiled with an extended hand. They shook on it.

Orbot and Cubot blotted tears that didn't exist, "So heartwarming."

"Are you going down to the luau tonight?" Sonic asked.

Eggman shook his head.

"Then I guess you won't see Amy any time soon. Do you still have your spying robots?"

"Of course," he said and brought them to the big monitor. He flipped on the cameras and pulled up the one to view the dock. He saw Amy speaking to some guests. "She bought herself a nice new outfit? Very snappy."

"Quite lovely," Cubot said.

Sonic smirked. "Look closer."

Cubot was the first to notice, "You guys must have found some really fancy places to eat. Amy put on some weight."

Orbot smacked him in the back of the head, "Don't be rude. Amy looks glowing and healthy, doesn't she?"

Eggman's eyes widened and his glasses nearly fell off his face. "How far along is she?"

Orbot perked up, "She's pregnant?!" Both robots hugged Sonic. "Congratulations on your parental endeavour!"

"Yeah, what he said," Cubot followed up.

"Thanks guys. She's three and a half months in; we're halfway there."

"That's wonderful news, Sonic. Congrats, you horny blue pineapple," Eggman laughed.

"Heh, yeah. We had an ultrasound done and it's twins, boys."

"Knowing you, I bet they'll be a handful."

Sonic proudly nodded, "I've even thought about getting us all ninja outfits to be sneakier in the dark."

"Only you," he said and put a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "Don't take them for granted. I know you won't, but I need to say it out loud anyway."

"I won't," he said.

Eggman saw Sonic out. His communicator beeped and he looked at who was calling. "I'll deal with you later, Duchad," he said and sent it to voicemail.

Afterwards Sonic took off back to the shore to see the ferryman, Zeke, closing up the ship for the day. The back of the boat still had folks removing cargo. "We're good to go," he said and took another sip of his drink. Most of the ice had melted.

"Things are going perfectly," Amy said as she directed a group of three humans to where Meh Burger was. "Where did you get that?"

"Eggman's robot mixed it." Sonic held up the drink and explained where it came from, along with all the other sites Eggman had up and running for patrons. "And then he showed me the spine he's making for _and_ installing on himself."

"A spine? About time he got one," Sticks said and received a high five from a nearby Tails.

"Seriously though, he's getting up there in age. He's even walking with a cane. It's spooky to see," he said. Something on the boat caught his attention. A few of the workers were yelling to one another. "Hang on, what's going on?"

"Grab him!" one yelled.

"He went under there! Quick!" another yelled back.

Sonic spun and fearlessly leapt onto the boat. He looked around to find two workers trying to pin down a deeply tanned colour echidna. "Xaun?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," he said and picked the workers up above his head. "I stowed away on the boat. By the time I knew Sticks was leaving, you'd sold out of tickets."

Sonic got the workers on their feet and they let Xaun and Sonic walk down to the shore. He fell to his knees in front of Sticks. "I said goodbye, but I didn't mean it. You're too wonderful to let go. I had to follow. I know you don't believe in soultouch, but I can feel it so strongly for you."

Sticks blushed, "Listen...I don't mind you like me and all, plus we had fun, but I told you, I'm single for life. Besides, I already have a house guest," she said and pulled Julie-Su close.

"But-" he stammered.

"You can stay with me for now," Knuckles said and put an arm around a stuttering Xaun. He walked him in the direction of his hut, "How good are you at burying things?" They left.

The rest of the group looked at Sticks. "Cold," Sonic said.

Sticks grabbed one of Julie-Su's suitcases. "What? When you got it, you got it," she said and walked off with her guest to get her settled. "Now, I gotta tell you about the Froglodytes. Nothing big, it's just so you don't get kidnapped and taken to their underground lair for sacrifice."

"Huh?" Julie-Su had second thoughts on whether or not she would be safe. "Suddenly, burying things doesn't sound so bad." She followed Sticks anyway.

* * *

Super long. XD


	30. Chapter 30: Finishing Touches

O_O

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 30: Finishing Touches-**_

* * *

Amy made her way to town hall to give her report to the mayor. "Hello?" She knocked on his office door and let herself in.

"My goodness, Amy!" The mayor walked around his desk to greet her with a hug. "What's all this?" he asked and referenced her growing 'self'.

"Twins," she said with a smile and handed him papers showing all the traffic that visited the island that day. "We've gone above and beyond our profit margin already."

"That's the second bit of good news you've given me since you stepped in my office. Congratulations. You and Sonic must be so excited. Where is he," he asked as he glazed over the papers.

"I told him to take the day off. He's going to have to help me a lot towards the end of the pregnancy, so I told him to get any partying out of his system while he can...plus if he's busy enjoying himself, he can't tell me to take a break."

The mayor laughed, "It's good to see you can find compromise in these kinds of situations."

"Yep." She nodded and waved her clipboard. "I want to confirm we're ready to shut the town down early for the luau at six."

He smirked. "Everyone's ready to clock out early; I didn't even have to ask them twice."

She checked that off. "Great. Eggman's opening his doors within the hour. We need to announce that the hotel is open, before the lunch rush, preferably."

The mayor marked down a reminder to give to his secretary to announce it over the local radio and closed circuit television monitors around town after his meeting with Amy.

"Next: Has the distillery finished with the coconut rum?"

The mayor pulled a tiny bottle from his bottom drawer. "They sent me a tester," he said and popped the top. He took a airy sip. "Delicious. I know you can't have any, but give it a sniff."

She checked that off too. "I can do this." Amy held a finger over the top and shook it, then licked her finger. "That's perfect." She hopped on her communicator and rang Sonic up, "You can tell everyone the distillery is ready to go. Get Knuckles and Xaun to help carry everything. Can you pay them using the town's credit card? I know I said you had the day off, but I forgot the card on the kitchen counter, at home."

" _Consider it done,_ " Sonic said and he was gone.

"I think that's everything. We did the lay's last night on the boat. The ship's already turned around and ready to go tomorrow evening. We have the buffet prepared and stored on board, for departure tomorrow afternoon. Dave said he'd move everything in the restaurant himself for karaoke later tonight, but I want someone to help him anyway. I think there was one more thing," she said and tried to remember.

"There is one more thing," he said, "To relax. You got all this up and running, let the rest of the planning committee handle it. If I knew you were with child, I would have delegated a bit more."

"Keeping busy is how I do things," Amy laughed at herself a little, "I suppose you and Sonic are right; I should take a break. I really want this to go over flawlessly, is all."

"You've served your time, you're free." The mayor put an arm around Amy's shoulder and took her clipboard as he walked her to the door. "You leave the rest to us. I have a couple members who were looking to take on a bigger workload. I'll let them know they have the whole arena to organize for the robot fights tomorrow."

"Perfect. You win." Amy said and took her leave. She headed to Meh Burger to meet up with Sonic. After she sent him a message, he was there immediately.

"I'm starved," he said and took another sip from the drink he was still nursing.

"Sorry, no outside food or drinks," Dave said from the counter, before Sonic set foot in the shop.

Sonic quickly grabbed a Meh Burger cup from behind the counter and went back outside. He dumped his drink into the flimsy cup and replaced the lid. He approached the counter and shrugged, "What outside drink?" He threw the glass over his shoulder. It smashed in the distance. "Two chilli dog meals, a double Meh Burger with cheese, two hotcakes, extra syrup, 'regret' sized fries and..." He looked back to Amy, "Do you want to split an ice cream?"

"Sure."

"And an ice cream. Now, what do you want?" he looked back to Amy again.

Her eyes were wide and she chortled, "You know **I'm** the one eating for three, right?"

He held up a hand to shield his voice, "I got the munchies," Sonic said under his breath. "And the burger is coming home as leftovers."

"I'll get the earlybird special," she said.

As Dave rung up their order he saw Amy's rounded tummy beyond the counter. "So, you're expecting? I'll give you guys the manager discount until you deliver. My gift to you both," he said.

"That's really cool of you, Dave. We appreciate it," Sonic said and paid the man.

"It's incentive to stick around. No babies have been born on the island since Lady Walrus's second son," he said.

"We've got two on the way," Amy said and held up two fingers.

"Wha! Life is wild," he exclaimed and walked off to gather the food.

Sonic and Amy exchanged glances and asked one another if he meant the whole island or their section specifically. After a few minutes of waiting, they were handed their mountain of food, "Seriously, dude, do you mean the whole island?"

He nodded, "It was in the newspaper a few weeks ago. Couples who conceive are more likely to leave for the city as soon as they find out." Dave shrugged, "I guess you only need to see a toddler nearly get blown up on a weekly basis once, before you realize it's not safe to raise a family here. It's been pretty calm lately; hopefully things'll change soon."

"Huh, who knew? Thanks." Sonic didn't need the extra cup so he gave it to Amy to have after she finished her coffee. She filled it with orange juice then they sat down together. "That's pretty sweet. As if we didn't have enough celebrity to begin with. Now we have the first babies born in a decade," he said and dug into a long desired Meh Burger chili dog. "Oh, yes, nothing beats the home recipe." He stuffed his face.

Amy nodded, "I guess that explains the population not growing in a long time. People immigrate to Seaside Island as fast as people emigrate. We've been breaking even."

Sonic had already finished both his chili dogs. He spoke with his mouth half full. "Unless you have money and or a business, it's hard to support yourself on such limited resources." He consumed the bite. "We were lucky enough to take on the 'hero' role and made a living through handouts and the town's tax write offs."

"A life of privilege," she said and they tapped paper cups in cheers. They laid their glasses down when Tails approached. He was out of breath.

"What's the word?" Sonic asked.

"We're pretty far out already, but Sticks got me to come back because we had to get an epinephrine injector. There haven't been any folks who had reactions; she wants it in case something does happen." Tails held up a box of instant injecting pens. "I've got more than enough." He went to walk away but looked at the cup nearest Amy. "Mind if I have some of that? I'm parched," he asked.

"Go ahead," she said and pushed the cup forward.

Tails took a sip, but stopped short. He smacked his lips and looked at the colour of the top of the cup. "Which drink here is red?"

Sonic panicked, "Oops, that's not Amy's cup," he said and swapped them.

"What's in there?"

He shrugged, "Ask Eggman. I got to sample something made by 'Drinkbot'. He called it 'Zombie Cocktail'; I assume because it looks like blood and brains, well, it did when there was more ice."

"Or it turns you into a zombie." Tails took a long drink of Amy's actual orange juice. "Much better. See ya," Tails said and lifted off as soon as he was out of the restaurant.

"Yeah, that was almost a disaster; I have no clue what's in this, but it's got kick," Sonic said. He knew Tails was helping Sticks in case anyone needed to be airlifted from the jungle. He needed to be on high alert.

They finished their meal. Sonic tipped the fry box upside down to get the crumbs while Amy sipped the last of the ice cream from the bowl. "I don't know where you put all that," Amy said as she watched Sonic get up and stretch. "You look pregnant too."

They left the restaurant with the single uneaten burger in a bag. "I hate to break it to you, Amy, but it's not yours." He pat his slightly bulging stomach.

Amy pretended to be heartbroken, "You hussy, how could you?"

"I didn't want you to be shocked when I gave birth and it looks nothing like you." They laughed and Amy gave him a playful shove in the shoulder. They headed to the barbecue platform.

The fires were already blazing to heat up the stones for the underground roasting pits. Knuckles and Xaun made quick work of the two holes they needed to put the hot stones in.

"Come on, get out of the hole," Knuckles spoke to Xaun who was laying flat in the bottom of one.

"Just dig another hole for the bbq. I'm dead and need to be buried." He was being intensely melodramatic.

Knuckles walked away, arms raised, unable to remedy the situation. "You two talk to him."

Sonic and Amy looked into the three foot deep hole to see the young echidna sulking at the bottom. He laid his drink down to talk to the guy. He knelt down. "Dude, come on. Have you seen the women from this island? And the women from the city who are visiting here? Lots of singles, and you aren't even gonna give any of them a chance? Hardly seems fair."

"You wouldn't get it. Soultouch is something much more than a close connection with someone. It's fate. Sticks and I reached a deeper level. I know she felt it too. She's just scared. She's the only woman I've met who gets me and thinks the way I do."

Amy near silently muttered so only sonic could hear, "Not another one."

"Listen, bro, if you like who she is, asking her to settle down would mean you want her to change. You can still be friends."

"We've known Sticks for over ten years, trust us when we say she's someone who needs her space," Amy said.

"Yeah, I guess..." Xaun still didn't seem convinced.

Knuckles returned with two very large, heave buckets full of sea water. "We need to soak the ground or we'll cause an underground fire. You can move if you want, or you can stay there." He lifted one bucket above his head and waited. Xaun only squinted and cringed. "You're okay with it? Suit yourself." Knuckles threw the bucket of water directly at him.

He snorted and spat dirt from the various openings in his face. "Dammit, that's cold!" he yelled and sat up only to get a second bucket right afterwards. He stood up, soaked and full of mud and sand. "I didn't think you'd actually do it." He flicked his arms to remove what dirt he could.

"I wanted you to chill out, so I went out from the shore a bit to make sure it was extra cold. Get your ass out of that hole and help me bail more water. You can rinse off in the ocean," he said and tossed him the two empty buckets. "Move it."

The tanned coloured echidna muttered about the mess then did as was told. "Vacation, slash, slave drivers."

Knuckles leaned over to Sonic and Amy and said, "In our culture, age is an immediate trump card." He chuckled, "Plus, my tattoo is bigger than all of his put together, which apparently also means something. Jules is helping me find out more; she brought some books." He turned to put more wood on the fire. "If you guys want to take off and relax, we got all this handled down here." Embers rose and vanished as the logs found their final resting place.

Sonic smiled wide and said, "I'll go home and start plugging things in." He took off and left an embarrassed Amy with an equally embarrassed Knuckles. He sped back and broke the silence, "I meant, turn on the power and get the air conditioner running...and I'll take this," he said and grabbed the drink he forgot. "See you at home." After a peck on Amy's cheek, he was gone again.

Knuckles raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry. He doesn't want to run with me in his arms," Amy said and before she could walk away, her communicator beeped. "Yeees?"

" _I'm sending blue force one to come get you,_ " he said and ended transmission.

She could hear the vehicle in the distance. "Even better." Amy looked back to Knuckles standing near Xaun as he dumped more water into the other hole and went back for more. "Knuckles, be nice to him. He's heartbroken."

"It just a little tough love." Knuckles nodded. "I'm buying him lunch after this. Don't worry, I got a pep talk all lined up and everything."

"See you tonight." Amy's ride showed up and whisked her away.

"Hey," Knuckles said and took one of the buckets from Xaun. They dumped the water in opposite holes. "You hungry yet?"

Xaun nodded. "Of course. I haven't eaten since I stole a sandwich on the boat. After being humiliated and worked like a dog, I think I earned it, plus some of that," he said and pointed to the crates they moved to the shore earlier.

"Don't be a drama queen; maybe next time don't be a stowaway, either," Knuckles said and punched his knuckle spike into the nearest crate and commandeered a bottle of rum. He waved to the other counsel member and pointed to the bottle he was taking. He got a wave on to take it. "Let's go. We'll get you a chili dog."

"What the hell is that?" Xaun raised an eyebrow.

"Oh friend, you're in for a treat," he said and gave him a hopeful pat on the back.

* * *

Hehe, 'horny blue pineapple' strikes again. XD


	31. Chapter 31: Meanwhile

Ooh, heads up, Sonamy, you so spicy. XD

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 31: Meanwhile-**_

* * *

Amy entered her home. Sonic's shoes were laying on the floor, his gloves, communicator and scarf tossed on the couch.

"I'm over here," Sonic's voice came from the bedroom. She walked in to see him lying like a starfish on the bed. He sat up with outstretched arms and clasped his hands in 'gimmie' fashion. "C'mere," he said playfully.

Amy kicked her sandals off and crawled towards him. She was flipped onto her back and kissed all the way from her forehead down to her toes. Sonic moved closer and slid a hand up her dress to remove her panties. He couldn't find them. "I'm not wearing any," she said.

He gasped. "You naughty girl," he said and stuck his head under her dress to 'get to work'. When she was warmed up, he nestled himself gently inside. "You don't find it weird to have sex while you're pregnant?"

She moaned softly, "Mmm, no, do you?"

He shook his head, "To me, this is the equivalent of the headboard hitting the wall; they're in another room." He picked up speed.

"Oooh, yea-that's a good way to look at it," she said and kissed Sonic's neck as he laid deep into her.

Meanwhile, semi-deep in the jungle, Jules walked with the tour group Sticks and Tails were guiding. They took a break in a small clearing to wait for Tails to return with medicine for allergic reactions. Tourists wandered around and examined the flora and took selfies.

"Pretty nifty, huh?" Sticks asked as she watched Jules jump down from a large root to a smaller one.

"There're trees out here are as wide as a car, some almost as wide as my apartment building. This is wild," Jules said as she touched a flowery vine hanging down in front of her.

"Lots of crazy stuff out here. I'm lookin' forward to showing everyone the waterfall. We can take a swim too."

Jules hesitated and sat down on a smaller tree root, "I wanted to ask you..."

Sticks sat next to her. "What's up?"

"It's about Xaun," she said.

Sticks sighed, "He's a nice guy who really knows his stuff. I told him right from the start that I was in it for the paranormal activity. He knew what I was about."

"Did you two ever do anything besides that, alien, stuff?" She implied sex with a hand motion of touching her finger tips together a few times.

"Nope. Nadda. I gave him a hug goodbye and that was it."

"That's good. Re'kar said you weren't the first woman he's claimed 'soultouch' with. I think he might be lonely. His folks aren't around much and I suppose they never had 'the talk' with him."

"Do you really need to have 'the talk'? I thought soultouch was instinct."

She nodded. "It absolutely is. Though wanting to have...just being..." She looked for a word.

"Horny?" Sticks bluntly said and laughed at Jules reaction of blushing and nodding. "It's not soultouch, it's just an erection, it'll pass."

Jules covered her mouth and silently laughed with Sticks.

"Have you and Knuckles been together yet?"

She came up for air and shook her head. "We've only ever kissed. He's never made an advance on me like that. I guess he's a little shy. We did only meet a few months ago. I'll give it more time."

Sticks stared blankly.

"What?"

"I don't know if anyone's had 'the talk' with Knuckles either. He's never had a lady friend until you came along...maybe he doesn't quite know how."

"I sure he knows how to, Sticks."

She shook her head, "But, what if he thinks 'sex makes babies' and that's it? He wouldn't try anything if he thought he was gonna knock ya up. Like ya said, you two just met."

Jules threw the idea around in her head. She had come to learn that Knuckles was a great person with a wonderful heart, but he struggled with certain things in life. She knew he couldn't read and most of her own knowledge came from books. What if this was one of those things that he needed guidance on. "If that's the case, what should I do?"

"Tell him sex doesn't always make babies and use protection."

"That's a start; I'm on the pill."

Sticks counted on her fingers, "Pill and condoms; better safe than sorry."

Jules laughed a little, "I doubt they sell condoms that'll fit him."

She blinked a few times. "...how so?"

Jules snickered. "I suppose that's proof you weren't with Xaun at all." She shielded her mouth and spoke quietly, "Echidna men are better equipped than most mammals. Like, _way_ better equipped."

Sticks went pale. "You don't say?"

Tails reappeared and landed next to them with the medical supplies. "We're covered now for sure," he said.

"Tails, what're the chances Knuckles had any sex education at all?"

Tails put the box of pens in with the other supplies. "What have I walked into?"

"No jokin'," Sticks said, "I'm pretty sure our friend has no idea how to use his meat stick." Tails and Jules blushed. "I'm serious. Have either you or Sonic talked to him about it?"

Tails thought. "I haven't and I'm not sure. Both of us had reading materials to rely...on..." Tails realized what he said as he said it. "Not to pawn it off on you Jules, but now that you're here, aren't you able to talk to him about it? Apart from the mechanics, I have nothing to go on either."

"I could, but I would feel like I'd be leading him on. He should form is own opinions about sexuality and not have a bias because of me."

"True," Tails said. "I'll see what Sonic says." He tried to call but was sent to voice message. "Huh, I'll try Amy." He got the same response. "Is my system down?" He tried Knuckles and got through right away.

" _What's up?_ " he asked over the communicator.

He had forgotten to make up an excuse as to why he was calling. "I was-checking-to see-if-my line was working out here. I couldn't reach Sonic or Amy."

Knuckles laughed, " _It's no surprise. They were in a hurry to get home to 'relax' after the long trip. They probably shut off their devices,_ " he said with a chuckle.

"Probably, alright, catch ya later," he said and hung up. "...he could be under the impression that Amy can't get pregnant a second time, so sex is okay right now. I'll mention it to Sonic and we'll both talk to him later. Probably tomorrow though. There's a lot going on at the moment."

Meanwhile at Knuckles hut, he brought Xaun over to sit and relax after their meal. He laid the bags of food on the table. "Want any more?"

"Nah, I'm stuffed," Xaun said and flopped back on the rug. "How have I never thought to put chili on a hot dog before? It's genius."

"It's a magical creation," Knuckles said hit the switch to give his hut electricity again. The fridge started to hum. He checked inside to see if anyone decided to make a home in there while he was gone. The only thing in the back were a few forgotten, thoroughly dried, red berries. He quickly grabbed them and tossed them out the window.

"Let's crack that rum now!" Xaun said and pulled the cork out with a satisfying pop.

"You go ahead. I'm not one to drink much," he said and went over to his unpacked luggage to rummage.

Xaun took a large gulp of the coconut flavoured spirit. "That's damn delicious! Hey, I have no problem drinking this whole thing by myself," he said with a laugh and replaced the top.

Knuckles tossed one of his new cd's in his small stereo and turned up the reggae tune. "That's a lot to handle on your own."

"What?" He sounded surprised, "Hardly. I drink two of these a week, easily."

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'?"

"Why do you drink so much?"

Xaun had no idea how to answer.

"The city's pretty big, there's so much to do other than drink. It can't be good for you."

He shrugged, "I don't know. Everyone around me parties like this, so I never questioned it. So, you never drink?"

"I do every now and then, but I have other things to do. From my experience, hangovers aren't fun. I can't work out, I got no apatite, my head hurts, it sucks. And I make terrible decisions drunk," he said and turned around to show off his tattooed back. "I got D to do all of that in one night because of it."

"No way!" He referenced the swirling tattoos on his own chest. "I got the outlines done and then it was coloured in two more sittings. Shit. You're tough as nails."

He laughed, "Tough? Thick headed? Take your pick." He sat down on the floor next to Xaun. "I wanna talk to you about Sticks."

He waved a hand. "You're right. I'm giving up on her. If she doesn't feel the same way, what's the point?" He popped the bottle again and took another swig.

Knuckles took the bottle from him. "I saw the video of you two meeting. Tell me, when she jumped up in your arms, what did you feel?" He took a mouthful and marveled at the delicious coconut flavour.

Xaun thought about it. "I don't know. I didn't feel anything until the next day."

Knuckles snapped his finger, "It's not soultouch then."

"How so?"

"I felt it the second I touched Julie-Su's hand. It was like the ground was vibrating and my heart sped up, I was shaking, I couldn't even talk right. I didn't even know what soultouch was when it happened. Trust me, you'll know it when it happens. It's gotta be with another of our own kind though; other species don't feel it. And that's knowledge I got from Julie-Su's grandfather, so you know he knows what he's talking about." Knuckles took another sip and replaced the cork.

Xaun looked sad. "I've met so many women, I never felt that feeling once then. I worked at it a bit and I started to feel something with a few of them, but it faded quickly. Am I always going to be searching?"

"I can't answer that, but I know if you give up your search, you won't find anything. And who says you have to be with someone because of soultouch? For now, while you're looking, you can meet ladies and have fun with no strings attached."

"Like a one night stand?"

"Yeah!"

He looked a bit more hopeful. "I bet my folks would be thrilled about that." Xaun hesitated but asked anyway. "Have you ever had one? A one night stand, I mean."

Knuckles nodded. "I've had one. Nice girl, a gecko, with a tongue like," he held his hands two feet apart, "This long. We didn't have sex, but damn it was fun."

"What about you and Jules?" Xaun took the cork from the bottle and tossed it out the window.

"Not yet. I wanted to wait until we got home. You know, I kind of wanted our first time to be on the island. Plus, I don't want to get her pregnant, well, not yet. Way too soon for that. But I'm not sure how to _not_ get her pregnant but still have sex."

"It's her cycle, dude," he said and took a sip and handed Knuckles the bottle.

"Cycle? Like, bicycle?" He drank.

"Hah, no, her menstrual cycle. It's when her body is getting ready to make an egg, it happens once every twenty-eight days or so. If you do it at the right time, she'll get pregnant, but all the other times of the month are safe."

"How do I know when it's safe?"

"You ask her if it's a 'safe day' or not. I'd say wear a condom, but I doubt you'll find one that fits around here. You said you were the only echidna, so unless they special ordered them, there's no reason to have em. There's also the pull out method."

"Is that where you pull out before you finish?"

"Yeah. It's worked for me in the past."

"Good to know." Knuckles had a few more questions lined up for his new friend.

They talked for a couple hours.

Meanwhile, back at Sonic and Amy's, things finally were dying down. "I'll give you this, you're way more adventurous when you're buzzed," she said as she caught her breath. "Pinkey was a good idea."

He nodded, "When in doubt, pinkies out," he said and stretched out on the length of the bed. He leaned over the edge and grabbed the Meh Burger bag under the bed.

"Really? You're going to eat that now?"

He took out the burger and had a bite of the cold sandwich. He extended it to Amy, "Does that mean you don't want any?"

She took a big bite. "I feel so comfortable around you. Everyone I deal with thinks I'm on point all the time, and normally I am; but to come back here, kick off my shoes, have sex and then eat fast food in bed...is that so wrong for me to enjoy so much?"

"Nope. Another bite?" He shared another with her. "I think that's what makes it so good. You bust your hump all day long, so it feels good to go home and let loose. It reminds you that you _can_ take a break and _not_ feel guilty about it."

Amy nodded. "I get what you're saying. It's a solid argument."

"Damn right it is." Sonic grabbed his drink and took a sip. "Oh, it's so warm, bleh," he said and put it down.

"I'll toss it in the freezer. I'm making tea, you want any?" She got up.

"Sure," he said and finished the burger. Amy left to go boil water and chill his cup of cocktail. "I was thinking," he said loudly so she could hear in the other room. "I want to do a song with the guys tonight at karaoke. Does bunny girl's mom still have that drum set?"

"Yeah, she does. What were you thinking of playing? An original Dudeitude song?"

"Nah, it's karaoke night, so it's a cover we've been learning. We nail it. When you come back in, could you grab my communicator?"

After clicking the kettle, Amy came back in the room and handed him the device. "I'll send Bonnie a message now."

"Excellent," Sonic rested against the headboard as Amy snuggled up next to him. "I'll message Knucks and Tails and make sure they're on board." Sonic luckily caught Knuckles in time and cemented plans for the evening. Tails was also up for a performance. "This is gonna be sweet."

Meanwhile at Dr. Eggman's lair, the doctor was spying on the town's visitors. "There's a lot hopping right now. I kinda wished my knee wasn't so sore. Those kebabs look scrumptious." He straightened his leg and bent it slowly in pain.

"You can always go down there in your eggmobile and look around," Orbot suggested. "To set your mind at ease, we've got everything automated up here. Every room is booked solid too."

"Meh," he said and flipped to another screen. He saw three, middle aged, human woman in line at the nightclub. "I may change my mind."

Orbot brightened up. "You intend to possibly swoon one of the ladies, I take it," he asked.

Eggman stroked his mustache. "I guess I could give it the old college try."

"May I make a suggestion before going out, sir?" Orbot asked politely.

"What is it?"

Orbot took his master's face in both his hand and yelled, " _Take_! _A_! Shower!"

Dr. Eggman looked frightened at Orbot's outburst. "Okay, okay, geez. You don't have to yell." Eggman shuffled off to get ready.

"I think he does," Cubot added and narrowly missed Eggman's cane taking a swing at him on the way by.

After he was gone, Orbot and Cubot high fived with both hands. "Thank goodness, he's gone for the evening! We're free! We'll stop getting all the smell complaints!"

"And we're going to save on the electric bill now that we don't have to keep all the windows open," Cubot exclaimed and blew on a party noise maker.

* * *

I was going over songs I hadn't listened to in a while and one hit me as a good song to end the night on. It's fun. I'd love to hear Roger C. Smith sing it, I bet he'd nail it. ;D

When I went over the chapter to proofread, I re-read the part with Xaun telling Knuckles about 'safe days' and the 'pull out method'. Every inch of my being went 'No. NO! NoooOOOOOOO!'

I must share this thought, do what you want with it...

"If my junk were a barrage of arrows, it would blot out the sun!"

"Then we shall fuck in the shade!"

When I thought of that, I died. XD


	32. Chapter 32: Luau Lunacy – Part 1

_**-Chapter 32: Luau Lunacy – Part 1-**_

* * *

Orbot and Cubot entered the lab room where they heard Eggman tinkering away. "I've cleaned and pressed your semi-formal, lounging at the beach-but-a-nice-beach, two piece with-SWEET SUFFERING!" They had walked in on a surgery. Blood wasn't _everywhere_ but it wasn't _nowhere_.

"Good; I was meaning to get those looked after," Dr. Eggman said and continued to focus on his right knee. Several robotic hands held tools like forceps and lights in place while other floating robots delivered parts as needed.

Cubot fainted into Orbot's arms and forced him to balance him and the clean clothing. "Pardon my language, Sir, but might I ask what in the _sam hill_ you're doing?" He shook Cubot to his senses. "You said you were going to the luau."

"It starts at six!" Cubot looked at a wall clock and gasped, "That's today!" he said in panic.

"I know," he sounded frustrated.

Orbot was nearly at a loss for words. "You said you were going to get a shower."

"I did! I always scrub down before surgery." The doctor grabbed a syringe and injected more local anaesthetic to the opposite side of the knee he was working on. He then took a nearby scalpel and made another incision down to the bone. Cubot fainted into Orbot again.

Orbot was stunned. "Really? The luau's only a few hours away. You need to rest and heal after a major surgery like this."

"Major? It can't be considered major if I'm awake for it; let alone doing most of it by myself. Besides, I already told you, I have nanotechnology in this. I'll be healed in a matter of days. On top of that, chicks dig scars. No scars on a popped kneecap; I'd look like an old fuddy-duddy in front of the ladies otherwise." He worked as he spoke.

His words were lost. "Still..."

"Plenty of good reasons to be doing this, and you're still bothering me? I'm busy. Thanks for the clothes. Hang them up over there," he said and pointed to a rack draped in plastic for dryness.

With an unconscious Cubot in his arms, he hung up the lightly coloured, tropical party attire. "Do you need any help, sir?"

Finally, he paused for a moment. "Actually, yeah," he said and picked up a small metal tray with something inside, "Throw this out for me."

Orbot shook Cubot awake again and steadied him. He reached out and took the metal tray. They looked inside to see a very bloody, white-ish, pink-ish lump. "What...is...this...?"

"My kneecap. I don't need it anymore."

Both robots fainted. The tray landed upright between them with a hard clang.

Dr. Eggman sighed, "Idiots."

Automated robots carried the two out to the hall and one quickly scurried off to dispose of the bio waste.

Eggman paused in thought. "I should call the committee and see if they have any other plans for tonight. No sense in letting this cash cow go without being milked dry. Computer, get Rogue on the line."

A white and peach faced lady bat came on screen. " _Hello, darling, what can I do for you?_ "

"I was wondering, have you made it to the island and saw what's happening yet?"

" _Yes, Shadow and I both made it; and let me tell you, it looks promising here tonight. I've got my boys out, how shall I say, 'busking' in the streets,_ " she said and twirled a finger on her gold necklace with a green glowing charm. " _The bugs we planted didn't give us any information about the gems, but it did give us a chance to set up a heist for the town's map archive. Everything is shutting down today at six in the evening._ "

He scoffed. "Figures, party animals. No offense."

" _None taken._ "

"If you're in there, why not take the Meroke crystal? It's at your fingertips."

" _Get greedy, get sloppy; par for the course on your part, I suppose,_ " Shadow spoke up. Rouge shifted her camera to get them both on screen. " _If we get in and out undetected, we can get copies of the maps and no one will be the wiser. Everyone will notice if we cut the power._ "

"I'm a man of action and complexities, we could have ransomed it; I'm deeper than you know, hedgehog," he said and inserted another piece into his knee. He used a drill to lock it in place within his leg. He winced.

" _What on earth are you doing, dear?_ " Rouge couldn't see the whole scene. Her eyes searched and tried to make sense of the half she was looking at.

"I'm installing a new knee joint. The old one gave out on me," he said and held up a bloodied tool.

Rouge and Shadow both looked shocked. " _Are...you still coming out tonight?_ " she asked. Shadow walked off screen in disgust.

"Oh yeah! I'll be there with bells on," he said enthusiastically and pointed a bloody scalpel at the lens.

" _Not actual bells, I hope,_ " she said with a laugh.

Eggman's free leg pushed a box of bells he found at the thrift store under the surgery bench, "Of course not."

" _Ta-ta,_ " she waved and ended the communication.

"So much for that idea." He got back to work.

Eggman finished the surgery and stitched himself up within the hour. "Now I rest it for a while and let the nanobots get a head start on the healing process." With the help of the now alive and well Orbot and Cubot, he made it to his own bed. They propped his leg up and set his alarm for five.

"You're certain you'll be good to go by then?" Orbot sounded concerned.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" He dropped the anger and spoke, "Fine; if it hurts too much I'll stay in." He tossed Orbot a strange communication device. "If Rouge calls, keep notes on what happens. This island isn't going to get rich on it's own."

Orbot caught the electronic and noted that the charge was nearly full. As much as he was looking forward to a night away from the doctor, he also didn't want the man to hurt himself. "I'll trust in your sound judgment, Sir." He shut the lights off and left out into the brightly lit hall. "I'm glad I don't have blood pressure. I'm sure it would be through the roof right now."

"I'm glad I don't have a stomach. The sight of blood makes me queasy," Cubot stopped to think, "Why was I programmed to feel queasiness if I don't have a digestive tract?"

Orbot blinked at him, "I haven't the slightest," he was cut off by the communicator beeping. "Good evening, Rouge. How may I assist?"

She smiled wide, " _Well, aren't you just darling?_ "

Cubot brightened up and butted in, "I'm 'darling' too!"

Rouge laughed haughtily, " _Indeed you are, sweetie._ "

"Hear that? I'm a sweetie." He swooned over the beautiful bat.

Orbot pushed him out of the way and continued the conversation. "I'm Orbot and this is Cubot. We'll be substituting for Dr. Eggman while he rests up after his surgery."

" _That man, I swear, he's got a few screws loose. Listen, we found other humans here. Are they with the doctor, or are they visitors?_ "

"I believe they're visiting. Dr. Eggman was thinking of accosting them this evening."

She nodded. " _Good for him. You're never too old to get back in the game. Heads up, they're gold diggers._ "

"We _are_ looking to expand underground," Cubot said and was shushed by Orbot.

"I'm sure they're lovely. Was there anything else to report on?" Orbot asked.

" _We scoped out Sonic's house. It seems like there's only this hunky red guy talking to a hunky sepia guy, but no Sonic to be found,_ " she said and earned herself a huff from her disgruntled hedgehog partner. " _And, my hunky partner hasn't seen him either._ "

Shadow huffed again, " _Don't patronize me._ "

Orbot thought about current events. "I believe he lives with Amy now. We just found out today that the two are expecting to be parents sometime in the near future."

" _What?!_ " Shadow got closer to the camera and bumped Rouge out of the way. " _Have you confirmed this?_ " he barked as he grabbed the communication device.

"We saw her at the dock today. She looked pregnant," Orbot said with a little worry. He knew Sonic and Shadow had a rivalry and hoped it wouldn't stress the new parents to have to deal with fighting. "Please don't cause any trouble for them."

" _That idiot! I need to confirm this myself,_ " he said and handed the device back to Rouge.

" _We're grabbing cocktails on the way!_ " Rouge sounded all too pleased.

" _It's barely past noon!_ "

" _It's happy hour around the clock here. I saw it on the sign back there,_ " She cut off the communication.

Orbot laid the device down and turned to Cubot, "I should only really need to say this once: Do _not_ mention excavating underground! Do you realize how many permits we'd need? We couldn't afford it and we probably wouldn't be allowed to dig this close to an oil reserve anyway."

"How else are we supposed to get the oil then?"

"We don't."

"But..." Cubot couldn't understand.

"Listen, the government owns that oil, if we drill it, we have to pay for it."

"So that's why we don't tell people? So we can drill it secretly?"

"Exactly."

Cubot thought about it. "Isn't that like, stealing?"

"Exactly. It is stealing. I don't know if you noticed, but we're not on side of good...unless we stand to benefit from it."

"And that's why we're leaving Sonic alone, right?"

"Yes. We've got to recoup our loses over the last decade and we don't need our cover getting blown. Between tourism, crude oil, and gambling on our own robots, we should make it all back in no time. Now let's get back to work."

They bided their time waiting for Eggman to leave. Orbot helped attend to a few of the patrons while Cubot freshened the lobby up with a pine scented cleaner.

Minutes later, Shadow came through on the handheld screen. " _Where's that old fool at?!_ " Rouge was in the background suckling on the most colourful drink she could order. She held a not so colorful rum and cola with a lime wedge on the side in her opposite hand.

Orbot picked up the device. "He's asleep. Remember? He's recovering from surgery."

" _He told me I could finally have a rematch with Sonic and I come home to find he's expecting a child?!_ "

"Children," Cubot butted in to say, "Amy's having twins." He felt proud about being able to remember all the information needed.

" _Twins?!_ " Shadow yelled.

"Please understand, we only found out this morning." Orbot tried to calm him down.

Shadow looked back to see Rouge sipping her girly drink while holding a beverage she was determined to get him to consume. " _You win! Nothing makes sense! Why am I even here?!_ " Shadow downed his drink in a mere few seconds. " _I'm not fighting him if he's got a pregnant wife!_ "

Cubot butted in again, "I don't think they got married."

Shadow's eye twitched. He threw his glass and grabbed Rouge's drink and downed that too. " _You tell egg for brains that if I don't get what I came for, I want compensation! I won't be responsible for what happens to him if he doesn't deliver._ " He threw the glass to the ground with a smash. " _I mean it,_ " he growled and tossed the communicator to Rouge.

" _Go easy, we still have work to do. Tootles, boys,_ " she said and cut off transmission.

"Oh boy," Orbot said with worry.

* * *

We've seen most of the characters with cheerful drunk demeanors...but what of rage and self loathing? O_O

Anyhoo, laters.  
Peace out. ^-^


	33. Chapter 33: Luau Lunacy – Part 2

Let's see if tagging the story helps any.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 33: Luau Lunacy – Part 2-**_

* * *

Shadow laid on the beach in the sand next to his third empty glass. He and Rouge found an isolated stretch of sand to talk on while they waited for 'go time'. "Why are we even doing this? We know there's an easier solution." Shadow said.

"Stop your sulking. We need to hold our ground here. Everyone was in agreement; or has that meeting ceased to exist in your head?"

"I haven't forgotten." He rubbed his face and held his spinning head. "I can't believe that idiot's going to be a father."

"Here I thought it was the job getting to you, but _that's_ what you're brooding about? Why do you care?"

He answered her question with a question. "Do you ever think about having kids, Rouge?"

She raised an eyebrow, "You're opening up? That's new. No, I haven't thought about children. I have too much to do to be worrying about ankle-biters."

"I should have had kids earlier in life. Things were simple back then. Could have gotten it out of the way, but no, I was too busy with 'the business' to bother."

"You talk like you're an old man, yet you're in your twenties. You can still make a career change if you're not happy; you're the one who wanted to join, no one forced you. Why are you grading your choices now? Because you're comparing yourself to him?"

"At least he's happy."

"I doubt Sonic's happy all the time, dear. To think, he's bringing kids into a world where a war is on it's way to their doorstep. He can't be sitting pretty all the time. My sources say he's aware of what's going on in the south, yet he still came home."

"Yeah!" Shadow sat up, "What the hell does he think he's doing bringing kids into the world at a time like this?! He should be in hiding and training for the worst. That jackass is so stuck in his own bubble he can't even see what's going on around him. He's so damn ignorant, it pisses me off."

"Being obsessed with power and money doesn't align with his beliefs, I'm sure. However, he doesn't hunt _you_ down for revenge."

"Is that what's bothering me?" Shadow laid back down in the sand. "I'm mad that's he's able to let go of that hatred and anger and be actually happy from time to time?"

"Here's an idea." She sounded flirty.

"This is going to be terrible."

"No it won't, silly," she said and waved a hand to shoo away the very thought. "After work, we go on a date."

"See. Terrible."

She laid on her stomach to talk. "I'm saying to let go of that anger for one night and actually have fun with me. Doesn't the smell of food alone make you want to enjoy yourself? Doesn't the music make you want to dance?" She rolled over and stretched out in the sand.

"Not really."

"The workaholic, Amy, even took the day off. Remember when Fink took over and she relinquished all responsibility for the fights tomorrow and everything else she'd been working so hard on these last few months?" Her voice mockingly pried at his logic with a run on sentence. "Are you going to let the little pink hedgehog lady make a decision you're incapable of? Hmm?"

Orbot buzzed in. " _I'm sorry to bother you, but are you busy?_ "

She sat up. "Kind of. I'm going through four of the stages of grief with Shadow."

He growled, "Fine. We'll go out after work."

"That makes five. What can I help you with, dear?"

" _Two of our spybots seems to have malfunctioned. A couple of prototypes with a white circle on their heads. I'll send you their last known coordinates. We were wondering if you could both retrieve them and let us know where the humans are?_ "

"Can do; ciao," she said and hung up. "You can stay here and vegetate. I'll be right back." Rouge flew to the spots Orbot had sent her. After she scanned the area and found who and what she was looking for, she took off to Eggman's lair. "Yoo-Hoo, anybody home?" Rouge entered through an open window and met Eggman in person. He sat at his large chair and took a bandage off his knee. "Let's see the damage." She laid the two dead drones in Cubot's arms and he nearly fell over.

"It's looking a little swollen," he said and removed the final bandage to reveal the various stitched up incisions. It was indeed painful to look at.

Rouge went a little pale as she bit her lip. "You're going out like that? If that doesn't impress the ladies, I don't know what will."

He smiled slyly. "It's nice to know _someone_ gets it," he said and made side eyes at Orbot.

"I may be doing the information gathering by myself tonight. My partner seems to want to preoccupy himself with a mid-life crisis."

"He's not even thirty. Tell him I said to get a life first, then he can go through a mid-life crisis." Eggman sterilized his wound by blotting it with a bit of iodine.

"I doubt that'll go over well. I'll put a pin in it." Rouge helped him bandage the area with fresh gauze.

"I trust you'll be able to get what we need to keep drilling, with or without Shadow. These machines can't use the town's energy source, we'd drain it within a month; and my power bills are high enough to begin with. All of this hinges on your success."

"I know, I know; leave it all up to me. I always get what I came for," she said and helped him to his feet. "Oh, you're quite tall. Even by human standards. Five foot ten is average for males," she said and flew up to meet him eye to eye, "You're easily six feet."

"Six-one, actually."

"Tall men are so dashing," she said and pinched his now blushing cheek. She flew backwards slowly. "I spotted the targets at Comedy Chimp's nightclub when I grabbed the drone. I heard them talking, and they said they'd be heading down to the beach when they dig up the underground cookers and light the big fire. Happy hunting. Now, I'm going to go peel my partner off the beach." She began to fly towards the exit, "Buh-buy, sweetie-pie," she said and blew a kiss to Cubot on her way out.

Cubot dropped the drones and waved, "Bye, my sweet," he swooned after her for a metre and halted. "I'm a sweetie-pie now?" he said and grabbed Orbot and shook him, "Our relationship is moving too fast. I'm not good with commitment."

Orbot smacked sense into him, "You do _not_ have relationships with co-workers. It always ends badly."

"I suppose it wasn't meant to be." Cubot looked down.

Orbot pat him on the back. "Come on, let's help Eggman get ready to go."

He brightened up, "You got it!"

Rouge landed on the beach where she left Shadow, but he was nowhere to be found. "Shadow?" She sing-songed his name a few times as she searched. "Where'd you run off to?" She peeked in and around a few bushes. He was gone. "I wasn't even gone for ten minutes and I lose him? Figures. Maybe he went to our vantage point." She slinked off to find her future date and to get in position. "You aren't getting away from me that easily my little hedgehog-pie."

She swooped around to find their hiding spot empty. "Fooey. I wonder where in the world he's at." She froze in her tracks. "Don't tell me he's gone to find Sonic." Rouge took a calming breath and sat in the grass behind some brush. "I'm completing the mission and if something goes wrong, it's his fault, not mine." Rouge contacted head office. "I'm in position to sneak in to town hall."

" _Excellent news. The sooner we start excavating crystals, the sooner we drill for oil. You're a good solider, Rouge. Over and out._ "

She laughed, "Praise feels better when I get to be awesome and don't have to kiss so much ass." Rouge crossed her fingers and hoped that Shadow wasn't going to blow her cover or her chances to stealth her way into the Mayor's office.

When the clock struck six she heard a large crack, followed by a sizzle, followed by cheering. "The fire's been lit." Rouge went up the side of the building and into the Mayor's office. The big fire on the beach couldn't be seen from where she was, but she could still smell it. "I can't believe he bailed on me. I'm stuffing my face and drinking my brains out when I'm done. That jerk." She left the office and headed to a room labeled 'archive'. A savvy lock picking session got her past the door.

With the carefullest of hands, Rouge took out map after map of the island's ruin's and made digital copies. By the end of the session, she had more than twenty locations stored in her memory bank. As methodically as she took them out, she replaced each ancient map. "Marvelous. Now time to wine and dine my salty partner, if I can find him."

Rouge slipped out after locking all the doors behind her and flew off like a bat out of hell.

A short distance away, Knuckles and Jules walked through the town to make sure all was quiet. They heard snoring. "Shadow?" Knuckles looked at the black and red hedgehog snoozing in the shrubbery. "This _is_ a hedge...we can leave him and check on him later."

"What? No way. We gotta get him up. These bushes have thorns." She got a little closer but pulled back quickly. "And he smells like the distillery."

"His quills should protect him. I only say we leave him because Shadow and Sonic have a _big_ rivalry; we don't need a fight right before karaoke. Plus, if he's anything like Sonic when you wake him up, it's not pretty. He's snoring, he's breathing, he's fine, let's go." Knuckles quickly shuffled them off to scan the rest of town.

* * *

Hey, Shadow...don't fuck up. O_o


	34. Chapter 34: Luau Lunacy – Part 3

Holy snap! I tagged my story for the couples in it and I got over 100 hits in a few days. Noice. ^o^

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 34: Luau Lunacy – Part 3-**_

* * *

Shadow woke up to the sound of firecrackers popping at his feet. "Grr, get out of here, you little bastards!" He shouted at the kids who pranked him. They scattered.

The last thing he recalled was being violently shoved out of the way and into a pruned hedge by a group of screaming children. He stood up and pulled an angry thorn out of his backside. "Damn shrub." A noticeable dent was left where he passed out. "Where the hell is she?" Shadow fired up his communicator as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

Rouge came online. " _Shadow! I've been looking all over for you; you had me worried. What in the world were you doing, dear?_ "

"I was mobbed by little monsters and got stuck in a bush."

" _For an hour?_ "

"I took a nap."

" _Great, then you're all rested. Come karaoke with me._ "

"I don't sing."

" _Come on, Shaddy, you said you'd take me out after work._ "

He grit his teeth. "Not to sing. Let's get something to eat."

" _Since we can't go to Meh Burger, let's rendezvous at the beach and enjoy the bonfire as the sun sets. See you there,_ " she said and hung up as to avoid any confrontation.

He groaned in frustration.

"Women. Am I right?" Sonic said from beside the brush. He circled around to talk to Shadow. "Knucks told me he found you here. What were those kids doing?" He asked as though he didn't have anything to do with the firecrackers.

Shadow pulled a second thorn from his arm and turned to leave.

"What? The silent treatment? Come on, bro, loosen up tonight." Shadow turned to look and see if he was serious. "I mean, not so loose you end up in a bush again," he said with a chuckle and extended a bottle of water. "Truce?"

Shadow looked at Sonic's peace offering. "Pass."

"Come on, you don't gotta be like that. Fine, I'll tell you what: We can have a fight tomorrow after everyone leaves. Sound good?"

"I'm not fighting you while Amy's pregnant."

Sonic was shocked at Shadow's consideration. "Oh, you heard about that? She doesn't need to be there, or even know for that matter."

He sighed. "Why are you being so nice?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"It makes no sense to be nice to you rival."

Sonic shrugged. "I don't know, maybe becoming a parent is softening me up, maybe I'm getting old or something. Who cares? We got tons of stuff to do right here and right now, why not enjoy it for a change?" He extended the water bottle to Shadow once again.

Shadow looked Sonic in the eyes to see if he was being sincere. The water he was being handed looked harmless. All looked normal. "Alright. Truce. But only until I say so." He took the water and guzzled it. "I got somewhere to be," he said and began to walk away.

Sonic quickly stepped in front of him and turned him around. "Beach is this way," he said and guided him in the correct direction.

He staggered a little. "I know which way the beach is."

Sonic raised a playful eyebrow. "Let me guess, you were going to take the long way to avoid your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend, she's my work associate."

"A work associate you're going on a date with?"

Shadow grumbled.

"I ran into her already. She said you've been working together for three years now and she hasn't seen you with a girlfriend once; or boyfriend, no judgment. When was the last time you were on a date?"

"I don't date."

"Or fool around." He suggested.

Shadow glared at him, "I don't fool around."

Sonic raised his hands in defense. "Okay, okay...have you...ever had a girlfriend?"

Shadow blushed, "I haven't."

"Seriously? The ultimate lifeform can't even figure out how to get a date?"

"The 'ultimate lifeform' doesn't want or need 'a date'." He was halted.

Sonic walked in front of Shadow again and stopped him in his tracks. "You're still a virgin? Again, no judgment."

"Why does that matter?" Shadow tried to escape the question but Sonic had a grip on him that wasn't letting him walk away without answering. He saw no contempt. With a frustrated sigh, "You're correct."

"One final question: Do you know how to?" Sonic let his new best buddy's arms go.

Shadow felt a huge rush of embarrassment. His pulse beat in his head so intensely he had to shut his eyes. His hands shook as he clenched them into fists. "Kind of." He broke free and took off walking at a faster pace.

"I'm sorry. I won't pry. It's only because if you need some advice, I'm willing to help you out."

Shadow spun around and nearly knocked himself over. He planted a finger in the middle of Sonic's chest and said, "If you want me to talk, I can't be this sober. We're getting a drink." His alien genetics sobered him up faster than the average hedgehog.

Sonic followed behind Shadow again. "I wouldn't go and call what you are _sober_ , at all. I can't drink until I'm done with karaoke, but you go ahead. I'll watch." He witnessed Shadow order two drinks at the bar. "Dude, I just said I can't-" He watched Shadow consume the shot then walk away with the double rum and coke, with a twist of lime, to an empty table.

"Alright then." He sat with Shadow. A waitress came by and took their food orders. She puttered off to collect the items. Sonic looked around. "I don't see them anywhere," he said as he tried to locate his friends and Shadow's 'not girlfriend' through the throngs of people. "I've never seen it this crowded before. There's got to be way more than a hundred and fifty guests." Sonic waved to Mayor Fink to come over.

The man held a fruity drink with an umbrella in it as he approached them. "Sonic, Shadow? Nice to see you boys getting along."

"Ech," Shadow turned away and sipped his drink.

Sonic queried, "I was wondering why so many people are here. I don't recognize a lot of these faces from the ferry."

"They're from all over the island and others found their way here on their own. Some of these folks actually live here, permanently, on other parts of the island. We're currently in a bit of a pickle. Since we didn't account for the extra bodies coming from other parts of the island, we've come up a little short on sleeping arrangements. We had to open up the warehouse for folks who want to buy tents; Knuckles also helped us out by making a few lean-to's on his stretch of the beach and the bed and breakfast had to stay open. Mrs. Vandersnout's grandson got a hold of me to say they're nearly booked solid. Only a few single rooms are left."

"It looks like our marketing campaign worked a bit too well." He and the mayor exchanged a few more pleasantries and he was on his way. "Do you have anywhere to stay tonight? My couch is free." The waitress returned with their mountain of food.

"I'll think about it," he said and reached the halfway mark on his drink. "Now what did you want to talk about?" He picked up a kebab and bit off a few vegetables and a meat cube .

He shrugged and joined in on the meal. "You know, stuff, things, other things, maybe more stuff."

"For tonight, can you not be an idiot?"

Sonic laughed. "It comes so naturally to me," he said and saw he wasn't winning Shadow over with cheerfulness. "Fine. Let's talk seriously. Rouge seems really nice."

"I know. I work with her."

"Is that why you don't want to get serious with her?"

"...no."

"Then why not?" Sonic asked.

"I think you know why."

"Because you've never had sex before?" His correct answer made Shadow blush. "That's not a bad thing, dude. Are you afraid to try?"

Shadow laid his drink down and spoke. "I'm afraid of getting hurt and I'm afraid of hurting someone I care about. I'd rather be alone forever than run the risk of hurting a loved one. Being alone and staying alone are equally as painful."

"If being alone hurts as much as staying alone, then you don't lose anything if you try. You only have a chance to make it better. What exactly do you mean by hurting someone? Do you mean not being emotionally available?"

"Something like that. I'm not the romantic type. I can't cater to someone who wants gifts and dinner dates and going places together with other couples. The thought makes me cringe. I'd rather be left alone, but, it's complicated, because I don't want to be alone." He spoke in circles.

"I think I know where you're coming from. I'm not talking about a full blown relationship though."

"For sex then? I don't see that as fair."

"Fair, for who?"

"For them." Shadow felt like he didn't need to point that out, but did so anyway. He grabbed a meat filled pastry and dug in.

"What if that's all they want too?" Sonic suggested.

Shadow thought about it. "What if they get attached?"

"Make it clear that a physical relationship is all you're interested in and make sure that's all they want too. If they choose to get attached, it's their own fault. However, since we're talking about Rouge, I don't think you need to worry about that. She's a free spirit and flat out said she never wants to settle down."

He calmly stirred the ice in his drink. "Is that why you're talking to me? Because she asked you to?"

"Nope. She did talk to us and I did get info from her, but me coming to talk to you is all my idea."

"You think sex will 'chill me out', I bet," he said with a smirk.

"That wasn't my inten-"

Shadow cut him off, "Admit it," he laughed and pointed a finger. His cheeks were now ablaze with rum, rather than embarrassment.

Sonic laughed with him, "Alright...a little."

"Ha, I knew it," he said and took the straw from his drink and threw it at Sonic. "Okay, you blue prick, give me some pointers on how to do this."

"Not if you're calling me names," he said jokingly.

"Deal with it. Now shut up and talk," he said with a bit more laughter. "Tell me," he leaned over the table with a wicked grin, "How do I put it in?"

This time it was Sonic who blushed. "You got me, fine," he said and leaned forward. "You go down on her first."

"Down?"

"Yeah. Down. And use your tongue," he said and made a suggestive hand-tongue gesture. "Then you go in."

Shadow narrowed his eyes. Sonic narrowed his eyes in return. It was on. They spent the next twenty minutes trying to out-embarrass one another. Shadow asked difficult to answer questions and Sonic gave difficult to hear answers. By the end of it, they were both in stitches.

"And make sure you don't forget, 'when in doubt, pinkies out'," Sonic quoted something he had said earlier that day.

"You're a dirty bird, you know that?" Shadow laughed and clinked glasses with Sonic.

"That, sir, is racist!" They laughed.

"What's all this? You stand me up so you can date boys? Rude," Rouge picked on him as she took a seat. "I joke. You look like you've cheered up some."

"Eh, you were right about the food, and the music. I can take tonight off."

"Wonderful! Cheers!" Rouge said and they all shared a cheers.

"I should get going. I have to help set up the instruments," Sonic stood by his chair. "You guys'll be there, I hope."

"We'll be there with bells on," Rouge said.

"Don't be ridiculous. Where the hell are we going to find bells at this hour?" Shadow asked and chuckled.

"Did you just...make a joke?!" She hugged him in his seat. "It's official! The night has truly begun!"

"Alright, settle down," he said and got a kiss on the cheek.

"The kids go to bed at nine. We'll be on stage around that time," Sonic said and hooked his thumb in the direction of the karaoke stage.

"You don't like performing for kids?" Rouge asked.

He shrugged. "We learned the song without censorship. I don't want to risk offending anyone. See ya," Sonic waved and took his leave.

Moments later. "He offered me his couch this evening," Shadow said and took a sip from his watery beverage.

"Are we taking him up on the offer?"

Shadow shook his head, "He offered me the couch, not you."

"Then I'll have to sleep on top of you, so as to not take up any more room."

He smirked, "We'll see."

At nine bells Sonic addressed the audience and introduced the band, Dudeitude. As soon as Sonic was through the first few notes of the song, everyone picked up on the beat immediately and cheered. He sang, " _Oh, no! See you walking round like it's a funeral. Not so serious girl why those feet cold? We just getting started don't you tip toe. Tip toe._ "

Shadow began to tap his foot. "This is catchy," he said and grabbed more meat on a stick.

Rouge sang along. "Let's lose our minds and go fucking crazy. Ah ya ya ya ya ya, keep on hoping we'll eat cake by the ocean."

Shadow allowed his body to bob to the beat. He wasn't one to dance, but he could groove. Suddenly, the night felt a lot less lonely, if it felt lonely at all. He partied with Rouge and the rest of the folks well past midnight. At the end of the evening, he and Rouge ended up on Sonic and Amy's couch. After having a bit of fun with one another, they were both out cold.

Sonic pulled his arm back into the bedroom and double checked his recording. "You can't see much, but you can totally tell what's going on. Plus the audio turned out fine."

"Don't be like that. Come to bed," Amy said and pat the bed next to her. "You two were getting along so well."

Sonic chuckled as he tripped and fell onto the end of the bed. "Oops, heh. Dun't worry. I'm only keeping it for blackmail purp'poses."

"That's what I mean. Don't do anything to piss him off," she said.

"I won't, don't wurry. This is for when he eneti'vitably starts bein'an asshole again. I can shut him up with this," Sonic said with a bit of a slur. He kissed Amy and curled up next to her.

With the first luau of the season ending as a grinding success, Amy and Sonic slept soundly for the first time in weeks.

* * *

Bam. XD


	35. Chapter 35: First Times

Big ol M rating! Watch out for falling lemons! XD

Everyone's experience is different. ^.^

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 35: First Times-**_

* * *

Knuckles walked away from the sounds of partying and music with Julie-Su. It was nearing the end of the night and it was getting colder. "Chilly, Julie-Su?" he asked.

She laughed lightly, "I don't recall telling you my nick-name. Chilly-Julie-Su."

"You don't seem very chilly to me," he said with a smile.

"I was different back on the mainland. What can I say, you softened me up," she said and turned to hug Knuckles but was pulled into a kiss instead. "You're really sweet, Knuckie."

"Knuckie? I like it," he said and kissed her again. "Do you want to come back to my hut for the night? I know it's a shack, but it's got charm."

"Sure." They quietly walked back to Knuckles beach house. The four lean-to's they built earlier were far enough away from the main hut for privacy sake. Julie-Su's heart began to race. ' _Maybe this is it. Maybe he's been waiting to take me here. Take me now! Right here in the sand. I don't care who sees._ '

"Hmm?" Knuckles thought he heard her speak.

She blushed. "I was thinking...um...we haven't...I wanted to ask you..." Jules couldn't bring herself to ask anything of him. They paused in front of his house. "Where's Xaun?"

Knuckles shrugged. "He told me not to expect him back tonight. Sounds like he decided to take Sonic's advice. Come on in." Throughout the day, Knuckles managed to gather enough materials for a makeshift double bed. "Pretty neat, huh? Palm fronds, beach grass and soft moss make a decent sleeping area."

She knelt down and tested the stability. "Nice. I, uh, wanted to talk to you about something." Jules took a seat, Knuckles sat next to her. "I'm not upset, I'm only curious..." she said and took a deep breath, "How come we've never had sex?"

He blinked a few times and then laughed at himself slightly. "Honestly, up until today, I can say...I didn't know how," he said and blushed deeply. "However!" He continued, "I talked to Xaun about some things today which was really helpful. I also heard Sonic talking to Shadow about stuff, and let me tell you, if I had actual ears, I'm sure they'd have burned off." They laughed. "I didn't want to get you pregnant and I didn't know how to go about it, but now I have answers...and a question, for you."

"Ask away," she said, her heart racing.

"Is it a safe day?" he asked quietly.

The fact he knew what that meant showed her he _did_ have his own opinions about sex. Regardless if those opinions were formed that day or not, and regardless if they were somewhat misinformed, they were his own. Jules decided she would tell Sonic about her findings and he could go in the next day to do damage control. She could only imagine the things Xaun must have told him. "It's a safe day."

"Okay...I'm still at a loss on where to go from here," he said.

"If you trust me, I have an idea to start out with," she suggested.

"I trust you, Jules."

She tugged his arm to get him to slide back on the bed. They kissed passionately. Jules perched herself on top of him. "Hold your tongue out a little." A request he gladly obliged. Their tongues played back and forth for a while. She could feel him getting hard beneath her from only kissing. Jules broke away and her kisses travelled down his chest.

"Tongue's feel really good," he said. Once more, he got that warm and inviting feeling over the tip of his member. "Ooh, they feel damn good," he moaned lightly as Jules took as much as she could in her mouth. He shut his eyes and allowed himself to be overtaken with pleasure. "I should ask where this is gonna go. I'm really close."

She halted her fellatio. "Alright then."

"You don't have to stop," he said with a bit of desperation in his voice.

"Would you do the same for me?"

"You want me to go down on you?" he asked.

Again, he used words that showed he knew what was happening. "Yeah. If you're alright with that."

"Yeah. Can you give me pointers if I'm doing something wrong?"

"Sure," she swapped places with him. There were several drawn out moments of silence while Knuckles examined her. "Something wrong?"

"No," he said and got closer, "I've never seen one of these up close before." He gently touched her inner and outer lips with curious fingers.

"Allow me to give you the grand tour," she said and proceeded to touch and explore herself with him, naming the various spots as they went along.

"This spot feels the best?" he asked and laid a thumb over her most sensitive area. He felt a small resilient muscle beneath the moist pink skin. He dipped his head closer and made contact with his tongue.

"You're right, tongues feel amazing," she moaned for him. He suckled on her lady bit like it was a juicy, dripping hand fruit. He latched on with a bit of suction and swirled his tongue around her clit. Her back arched and she couldn't control the sounds of pleasure that came from her.

He'd have stopped and asked if she was alright, but the phrases 'don't stop' and 'right there' and 'a little longer' told him he was doing something right. He also heard the phrase 'put a finger in me'. He pulled a glove off. With his middle finger he traced her opening and went inside. It was warm and wet and it twitched. He bent the finger back and forth but still kept up the barrage with his tongue. A sharp 'yes' filled the air, followed by a few quieter 'yes's' while her vagina pulsated with orgasm. He came up for air but kept his hand moving. "You doing okay?"

"Yes...yes...I'm great. Come here," she said and brought his lips to her own. She laid back down while he positioned himself between her legs.

He was too far away to go inside. "A little closer," he said and schooched in closer. "Nope, closer," he said and tried to get closer. He had to lift Julie-Su's hips to practically sit on his lap. "..." He couldn't angle himself correctly and needed to back up a bit. "Too close. Hang on."

"Let me," she said and lifted her own body and guided him inside. She inhaled quickly as she lowered herself back down to the bed.

"That doesn't hurt, does it?" he asked as he attempted to go in further. He was met with some resistance.

"Go slow and make sure you're wet enough. It won't hurt if you get wet."

"Okay," he said and moved in and out slowly. Each time he pulled out, he would go back in further than before. Finally, he laid his full length into her. "Still okay?"

The sensation of being filled was thrilling. "Yes. This feels really good."

"Look," Knuckles said as he sat up some.

"What?" she said and looked to the spot Knuckles was referring.

"In and out and in and out," he said as he watched his member disappear inside her and reappear. "Is it bad I like watching it go in?"

"Not at all," she said and fell backwards to the pillow. "You can go faster if you want."

"I won't last long if I speed up, but here goes," he said and picked up the pace. Things intensified as he lifted his leg and placed a foot beneath them. With such a position and velocity, he was able to work her to orgasm a second time. Unable to continue, Knuckles came deep within his lady and growled out a moan of pleasure. He collapsed on top of her and propped himself up on an elbow. He caught his breath.

Julie-Su held him tightly as some of his weight pressed down on her. She kissed his forehead and snuggled him tightly.

When they cooled down he rolled off to the side. "Hey, Jules...do I say 'thank you' now...or is that implied."

She giggled and pulled the blankets over top of them. "You don't have to, but you can if you want."

Knuckles pulled her in for a kiss then said, "Thank you."

She giggled again and kissed him back, "Thank you, too. Goodnight."

Over at Sonic and Amy's, a similar scene unfolded, but with much more aggression. The house owners retreated to their bedroom for the evening and left Rouge and Shadow to their devices in the living area.

"You tired yet?" Rouge asked as she laid on her stomach looking at Shadow. She waggled her feet back and forth. "Or do you want to fool around?"

"Where do we even start?" Shadow said. He was sufficiently intoxicated and open to suggestions.

She jumped up and sat on top of him, straddling his hips with her thighs. "You can play with these for a bit." Rouge tugged her heart shaped top out of the way to expose her exquisite breasts. "We smother you in here for a bit and see if anything comes up."

Shadow took a nipple in between his teeth and applied a bit of pressure.

Rouge let out a tiny moan. "We have a biter. Good, I prefer it to be a bit rough."

He pressed his face into the soft bosom and kissed her silky fur. He kept one hand to massage and caress her breasts while the other hand reached around and grabbed her round bottom. "There's so much on you to grab, I need more hands," he said with a mouthful of boob.

"Whatever we don't cover tonight, we can work on at a later date." She reached her hands down between them. "What's all this?" she asked as she stroked Shadow's stiffening member. "Oooh, girthy. I guess you get to keep the title of 'ultimate lifeform'."

Shadow flipped her on to her back on the couch. He grabbed her pants and tugged them to her knees. He then pushed both her knees to her own chest, exposing between her legs better. He leaned in and licked her all over, inside and out. "Such a savage. Are you sure this is your first time? Or are you just thirsty?" she asked though a bit of panting.

"You ready?" he asked as he positioned himself at her opening.

"Go ahead. I've been wet all day, thinking about this moment." Shadow held both her legs on either shoulder as he thrust into her. He held on to her legs and plowed her as best his instincts told him to. "Oh, yes! Ravage me, darling! Split me in half! Yes!"

Shadow didn't think to keep quiet either. He was less verbal and more guttural groaning and moaning, more so when he finally released inside of her. He collapsed on top of her and in a few moments, caught his breath.

"Not bad for a first time, would you say?" she asked but Shadow had already passed out. "You _cannot_ be serious." She shook him but only got a mild 'mmm' in response. She wasn't in the most dignified of positions with her ankles being pinned behind her ears. "I can't believe you passed out on me...and in me. No big deal," she said and manoeuvred herself free and tugged her bottoms up. She heard the bedroom door click shut. "A little voyeurism never hurt anyone," she said with a yawn. "I only have a few hours of sleep before I have to go. Do you care if I leave without you in the morning? If you don't care, say nothing."

Shadow snored.

"...uh...that doesn't count," she said and laid on the couch next to him, head to head, with her feet hanging over the edge a bit. Rouge set her alarm. "If I can even get sleep with mister 'ultimate lifeform' sounding like a bandsaw...oh, forget it. I'm gone. Otherwise, I'd complain about it in the morning," she said and took leave out the window. "Thanks for the sugar, Shaddy. Tootles," she said and blew him a kiss before she took off into the night.

Shadow snored a bit louder. Sonic came out of his room, exhausted, and threw a pillow at his guest's head, then went back to bed. It minimally muffled him.

In the town centre, the last folks of the night made their way to their beds. Tails took down the sound equipment and packed it away for next week's luau. "We may need to start putting these luau's to every second week," he said and yawned wide, "I don't know if I can keep up."

"Excuse me, are you Tails?"

He turned to see a girl with yellow fur and purple hair. "That's me. How can I help you?"

She extended her hand, "My name is Mina Mongoose. I wanted to set up a music performance and someone told me you're the sound guy."

Tails was draped in cords and had headphones on his neck. He held up the wires in his hands, "My outfit's a dead give away," he said and struck a pose to show off his trendy attire.

She giggled, "You're cute. Can you help me out?"

He blushed, "Yeah, totally. I do more than sound though; I'm your go-to tech guy."

"Great. Can we meet tomorrow to talk about setting up a gig?"

"Sure thing," he said and gave her instructions on how to get to his workshop. "If I'm not at my workshop, I'll be in my house next door. Come around anytime after eight."

"I'll see you then," she said and left with a wave.

Moments later, "Aww, isn't that sweet?" Sticks said. "Flirtin' with girls? Ah, little Tails is growing up."

He laughed, "Possibly. I'm taller than you now," he said and stood up straight. He was a several inches above Sticks.

"I get it, beanpole. I didn't see Zooey out tonight, how come?"

Tails shook his head, "She's off visiting people on the northern islands and won't be back for a few days. She said she was bummed she was gonna miss all this, but I told her it was going to be a weekly thing."

"That stinks. There's always next time."

"Yeah. What are you doing up still? I figured you'd be out cold after all the activity today."

"Nope. I never sleep. I need you to keep something to yourself," she said with a hand up to her mouth to shield others from reading her lips. "You never saw me, you have no idea where Xaun is...okay?"

"Uh, o-kay..."

"Good," she said and walked off with Xaun who was waiting around a corner.

They went back to her burrow. Sticks paused and spun around. "I'm doing this for science."

"I understand," he said with a wide smile.

"Only once. Got it," she asked with a finger poking his nose.

"I understand," he said again with the same wide smile.

"...and stay out of my fridge."

"I understand," he said with an eyebrow raised.

"...come on in." Sticks lit a lamp to illuminate the room. "Under the lamp."

He got under the lamp light.

"Whip it out." She grabbed the movable light fixture and focused it between his legs.

"My...junk?"

She said and rotated her hand at the wrist to speed things along. "Let's see it."

"Alright, it's not much to look at right now." He exposed himself.

Sticks examined him closely. "...and you swear you're not an alien."

"You have my word. I'm an echidna; born and raised on earth," he assured her.

"I believe you," she said and knelt down on the floor. She took the tip of his quad-headed member into her mouth. One half of the heads became stiff while the other's receded. "They don't all light up at once?"

Xaun wobbled his hand, palm down, back and forth, "It alternates. Something to do with sperm production. Not sure. Science and stuff." His words didn't work when his penis was in someone's mouth.

She engaged him for several minutes before declaring, "Enough foreplay, time for the main event. Over to the table." She leaned forward and dropped her panties. "See if you can squeeze yourself in there." She presented herself.

"I'll do my best," he said. He only gave her the tip. "That's a tight fit," he said.

"That's the point," she said and tossed him a bottle of lube from the table.

"Why was this on your table?" he asked as he slathered himself in the slick liquid.

"You aren't the first person to drill me on this table," she said, matter-of-factly. "You are the biggest though." She looked over her shoulder. "I got high hopes for you."

He slid into her only a bit and had to stop. "I never considered I'd be too big to fit."

"You'll fit. I need to warm up first."

"If you say so," he said and continued to penetrate her. He finally reached the end of her insides. "Are you okay? If I go any further, you'll get hurt."

"I think so too. Don't go any deeper but...you keep going."

"Y-yeah," he said and plunged her innards thus. He lifted her leg and held it as he plowed her from behind. She moaned out for more and he gave her all he could. "I'm coming," he said and filled her so much that his seed dribbled down her legs to the floor.

Sticks reached down and touched the warm goo she'd been gifted with. She licked it. "Not bad. Kinda salty." She licked her fingers clean.

Xaun witnessed what she did and had to grab the table to steady himself.

"What's your problem?"

"Aftershock," he said. "I know you said this was a one time thing. I get that. But can we still cuddle?"

"I'll go get cleaned up. You go lay down. The right side of the bed is mine." Sticks tidied up and crawled into bed with Xaun. He held her close and dozed off in no time. Sticks laid there awake but slowly began to feel tired. "This ain't so bad." She was out cold after that.

* * *

The long awaited lemons. *sniffs* Ah, lemony fresh, *sniff sniff*, and kind spunky. XD


	36. Chapter 36: Good Morning Sunshine 2

Motor on. XD

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 36: Good Morning Sunshine 2-**_

* * *

Shadow awoke to the smell of coffee and bacon. He tossed the pillow on his chest onto the other couch.

"You're alive," Amy said. "You hungry?"

It took Shadow a moment to realize where he was, regardless if he remembered every moment of getting there or not. "Don't trouble yourself."

"Trouble? It's already made. I have coffee, pancakes and bacon."

"Alright then," he said calmly and stood up. He stood for a solid four seconds. He sat back down and held his throbbing skull. "Give me a moment. Now I remember why I don't have fun. It hurts."

She laughed. "I bet. Sonic's not out of bed yet either. Where did Rouge go?" She asked as though she didn't know.

He tried to contact her but got no response. "Not sure." Amy put a plate together for Shadow and brought it to him. "Y-you, don't need to serve me, but, thank you." He dug in.

Sonic finally emerged from his tomb with a blanket still wrapped around him. He looked rougher than Shadow did. He proceeded to the kitchen and kissed Amy. With a sore head laid on her shoulder he said, "I'm hungover. Please tell me there's food left."

"Yes. The bacon's almost done. I'll get your plate, go sit," she said and went back to frying.

Sonic flopped face first into the adjacent couch. He groaned in pain and pulled the pillow he threw at Shadow over his own head. "Why did I agree to shots? I distinctly remember doing shots, Xaun did karaoke, we threw that bottle at the fire and it exploded...and then I woke up here."

"I told you not to try and out drink Rouge. She's a tank," Shadow said as he chowed down on his bacon.

"Duly noted." He smiled coyly. "So...how did it go?" He only knew of Shadow's exploits because Amy told him before she got up.

"I'm pretty sure your door isn't soundproof."

"Indeed, it isn't. You're welcome," he said and extended his fist for a bump.

"No," he said and continued his meal. Sonic's hand held fast, determined to get a bump. "You're insufferable," he said quietly and bumped fists with his rival. After food, he thanked his hosts and Shadow left the house, slowly, in search of Rouge.

Amy brought their plates to the coffee table. "We can eat in here if you don't want to sit up."

"Good call." Sonic's arm came out from beneath the blanket, grabbed a semi-crispy slice of bacon and sat there holding it.

Amy remembered this was how he was on the boat trip to the mainland. "Need any help?"

"Almost there," he said as he successfully consumed the bacon. "Good, we didn't get the reduced salt bacon. It feels weird to salt my bacon."

"I'm trying to cut down on salt because of all the fast food we eat, but I think I can let bacon be bacon. We can eat less of it if it's too salty."

"You want me to cut down on fast food?"

"Try to cut it out a little. It'll save us some money too."

"I can live with that...gonna have to get Knuckles to teach me make chili so I can do it from home."

"That's the spirit. Stay away from those peppers he found out in the jungle." Amy finished her plate before Sonic and took it to the sink. "It's probably pointless to ask, but I lost track of everyone last night, did you see where they went?"

"Nope."

"Didn't think so," she said as he front door slammed open.

Tails burst in, busting with news. "You're never going to guess who was at my house this morning!" He saw Sonic wince in pain. "Heh, sorry. Guess who."

"Vector?" Sonic guessed.

"Rouge?" Amy guessed.

"Eggman!" Sonic suggested louder.

"No, no and no. I had to look her up when I got home, but Mina Mongoose wants to do a gig here!"

Amy squealed, "You're kidding!"

"Nope! She wants to have a concert here next month."

Amy bounced and screamed, "She's here! Oh my goodness, she's here! AAAAAHHH!"

"Amy, you may want to quiet dow-" He tried to alert Amy that Sonic was trying his best to hide his head in the couch cushions to escape the ear piercing fangirling.

There was no stopping her. "I have all her albums!" Amy went to her luggage that still needed unpacking.

"I listened to a couple of her songs, it's not really my style. I'm glad you're into her though."

"Did you listen to her old stuff, or her new stuff? It's got a different feel. I found her newest release on the shelf at Tonic Concentration!" She pulled the CD and flashed it to Tails. The cover was racy and depicted a nude Mina with her back mostly to the camera and looking over her shoulder. Delightful looking rainbow sprites censored the right areas. "She, this person, Mina, was over your house today?"

"Yes," he said with a heavy blush as he examined the album cover.

Amy gave him sly side eyes, "You frisky biscuit, you."

He blushed deeper, "We were making plans to set up her stage, that's all! She has pyrotechnics she wants to put in. Someone told her I was the person to talk to for tech." Tails sounded proud.

"Next month, you said? That should give us time to build a new hotel. Eggman was full up last night and so was the bed and breakfast. I even saw a few people sleeping on the sand. We really cut it close. I'll put in a request to the mayor. We still have to wait until the end of the day to find out our earnings. This is between us right now, but we made a profit only a couple hours into the night. There's no telling what we walked away with." She looked at Sonic who was coiled into a ball. "What's your problem?"

He uncoiled from his ball. "Noise is painful."

She laughed a little. "Alright, I'll leave you be and get this all sorted with the mayor."

Amy got ready for the day and headed to town hall where she went over finance with the mayor. "These numbers are off the charts."

"I knew we should have sprung for bigger charts," he said.

"I'll put that on the list for next time...bigger...charts," she said and squiggled down some numbers. "The ferry starts docking at five o'clock and we can calculate our earnings then. There was one final thing to mention." She discussed the concert with Mina and the mayor said he'd bring it up at the meeting later that day.

Amy went around town and sold the six return tickets in no time. She spotted the coveted Mina in her travels. With all the willpower she could muster she went over to the woman and _didn't_ have a spaz attack. "Hi, Mina?"

She turned, "Hello," she said with a friendly wave.

"I'm Amy Rose, one of the head members of the planning committee," she said and they shook. "Tails told me you were looking to have a concert here."

"Yeah. I think performing in a tropical paradise would be a great selling point for my new album."

Amy giggled, "I can see that. I bought it only a couple weeks ago, and let me tell you, I fell in love."

"Oh, thank you. It's always great to meet a fan who's on board with my new image. I'm trying to leave the 'little girl pop star' behind. I signed with a new company months ago and I'm already loving the results. Is it alright if the _whole_ concert isn't for folks of all ages? I want to do my new stuff and my old stuff."

She nodded, "Of course! Much like we did last night, we turned the censorship off at nine when the kids went to bed."

They traded communication info and Amy was off to check on the ferry. Amy froze as the ferry came into view. It was being packed with food for the trip back. She remembered that Xaun stowed away and had no return ticket, and she had just sold all the tickets they used to get home. "I'm going to have to let Sticks know her little stalker friend is going to be staying."

She went to Sticks burrow and before she laid a hand on the door to knock, Sticks opened it and revealed Xaun behind her. She quickly stepped outside and shut the door behind her. "My timing is awful. What's up?"

Amy stood there with a raised eyebrow.

"What? I threw the guy I bone."

Amy chuckled and extended a fist to bump. "I guess that means you don't mind if he has to stay on the island for a week?"

Stick gave her a bump. "What about our return tickets?"

"I forgot he snuck on board and I sold them already. Sorry," she said with clasped hands.

Sticks waved the notion away. "Don't worry about it. We got to talking about other stuff and Xaun said that staying on the island would help him out. No drinking buddies means he'll dry up."

"I supposed that's a good enough reason to stick around. Will he be staying here?"

She shrugged. "Not sure. Jules has my spare room and I'm not sharing my bed any more than I have to. I'll ask Jules when she gets up; she went to bed really early and she's still asleep."

Amy nodded. "Alright, I'll see if Knuckles is up and ready to start digging."

Xaun opened the door. "I can help dig."

"You eaves dropping on me?" Sticks readied herself for a fight.

"Wouldn't you?"

She thought about it. "...good point," she said and reentered her home and shoved Xaun out onto the doorstep. "I have to go...do some stuff. See ya later," she said and shut the door on them.

Amy and Xaun went to Knuckles hut. She knocked on the door frame and let herself in. "Knuckles, are you up yeeee-?!" She caught a glimpse of Knuckles and Jules spooning. She quickly left the hut. "Oops, I'll come back later."

"I'm awake," Knuckles said sleepily. He went to the door and yawned.

With a blush on her cheeks, she extended a fist to bump.

"Heh." Knuckles bumped. "What's up?"

"I was wondering when you wanted to start digging for the plumbing."

"Right after breakfast, I guess."

Jules walked past them all with a big yawn, "I'll help too. I'm going to use Meh Burger's bathroom and I'll be back."

Xaun laughed, "Use the bushes."

"Nope. Still too much of the city in me for that."

Three of them went to Meh Burger and Amy went off to see if there was anything to report at Eggman's lair, slash, hotel. She knocked and the doctor answered in his fancy red robe. He had a smoothie in one hand. "Hey, Eggman, I'm checking up on everything from last night."

"Sure thing. Come on in. I was making croissants for the girls." He walked with a slight limp but no cane.

Amy had heard from Rouge that he replaced his own knee. "How's your knee?"

"The bone feels great, the joint is taking nicely, but the stitches are a bit sore. I'm mostly staying off it for today." He led Amy to the main hall where the three human ladies all sat around and chatted in front of the television. "Tips alone were impressive," he said and handed out the earnings for the tiki bar. "I knew splurging on drink-bot would pay off." He located the hotel's finances and gave those papers to her as well.

After Amy got all the information she needed, she was seen to the door. "Oh, and Dr. Eggman, in the absence of any of the guys, I'm obligated to give you an obligatory fist bump." She extended her fist for the third time that morning.

He bumped it three times, "Heh, have a good day, I know I sure will." He heard something ding in the background. "Croissants are done." He shut the door to return his lady friends.

She returned home to find Sonic up and moving normally. He'd tidied up the kitchen for her. When she came in, he hit the kettle for water. "What's the word?"

Amy squeed with joy, "Last night was a bigger success than I thought."

"That's good news."

"Heh, yeah. I ran into Mina and she's looking to do a split show. One for the kids and teens and one for the adults."

Sonic snickered, "I bet. I listened to some of her new stuff while you were gone. Way different from her last album. I actually kind of like it."

Amy brightened up, "Would you go with me to the concert then?"

He nodded.

Amy squealed loudly. Sonic balled up. "Oops, sorry, I forgot you had a headache."

* * *

Gotta end on a joke. ;P


	37. Chapter 37: Throw Down

I want to write more, but I feet the tone of the upcoming events are more serious than what I was going for in _this_ story, so, I wanted to write a sequel to this one.

 _However_ , I'm having trouble separating the two stories. Without oodles of exposition at the beginning of the second story it won't stand alone, not without having read this one first. It's difficult to find a drop off point when I have so much going on though. I always write myself into a corner...this time, I wrote myself out the window. XD

I'll keep writing here for now, until the end of my ideas, rather than trying to write a second story. I can't be bothered. Writing is fun for me, it shouldn't be stressful. -_-'

I think that was one of the things that stopped me from writing for the last few years: I made it stressful on myself by trying to beat deadlines/follow guidelines I set for myself.

No more! I'm here to have fun and I'll do just that. :D

On with the show! Who knows when it'll end! XD

Fuck oblivion!

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 37: Throw Down-**_

* * *

The guys and Jules helped dig what they needed for Knuckles house to have plumbing. "I have an idea," Xaun said as they finished digging trenches for the pipes. "Expand the house."

"Uh," Knuckles thought about it.

"Hear me out," Xaun said. "What if we split the house down the middle? You keep the main structure of the building and only need to put supporting walls in on either side. We could lengthen the house, easily, fifteen feet in that direction." He pointed in the opposite direction of the shore.

"Why not build onto it as is?" Jules asked.

"I think we'd have a hard time connecting a second round roof at the centre," Xaun explained. "We'd have to tear chunks from the roof anyway, so we might as well do a clean split down the centre and add to the roof after the walls are up. If you want electricity in the whole building, it would be easier to build two new walls and branch off from there. I never learned how to wire Bamboo huts, it would be a fire hazard if I tried."

"Learned?" Jules never knew Xaun to be anything more than an alien hunter. "I haven't ever asked you, Xaun, what did you do after school? I thought you were going 'professional alien hunter', or something."

He shook his head. "Nah, that's a hobby of mine, for sure, but I can't make a living off it. I had to buckle down and pick up something lucrative if I wanted to keep living at home. My folks suggested a building trade of sorts, because I was always building shit like telescopes and radios anyway. I ended up taking an electrical trade and finished my apprenticeship with Jaeen. You remember him, right?"

"Yep," Jules nodded knowingly, "How's his face?"

"Thirteen piercings and ninety percent tattoos at this point. He recently got a septum piercing," Xaun said and pointed at the space of forehead between his eyes. "After the electrical stuff was out of the way, I moved on to carpentry. I finished that apprenticeship with the school last year. I'm eager to get my own project started."

"You talk like there was no work in town," Jules stated.

"Boring stuff, yeah, tons. I want more freedom to build 'outside the box'. A tropical paradise definitely isn't inside any box I've seen recently."

Knuckles nodded in agreement, "I like the idea. If you know what you're doing, I'm on board."

"How do we move half a house?" Sonic asked.

"We pick it up and slid it. Come here," Xaun said and they followed him into the open house. "We're going to have to actually cut the floor along here," he said and pointed to where he was talking about. "We also need to break the wall joints here and here, same on the other side, to separate the roof from that window up top," he pointed to the structure on the roof at the front. There was a small awning with a window facing forward that needed to be taken down temporarily. "From there, we literally lift the back end of the house and slide it over a new foundation that we pour out back. After that, we build an angled roof in the gap going across to close it off. If we do it high enough, you'll even have a bit of attic space." He looked out in the backyard. "We're going to have to take down those three trees, but hey, you can use the wood for building materials."

"I think Tails can rig us up a Sonic-powered belt saw. We should be able to get through them, no prob," Sonic said.

"The three of us can dig the remaining roots." Jules added in, "We need to be sure to get all the roots. I remember when Re'kar was expanding his house, they removed a tree. A couple years later they needed to pull up the entire room because the tree tried to grow back through their floor."

"You got it," Xaun said then turned to homeowner. "How much are you looking to spend?"

Knuckles thought, "I need to check how much I have," he said and logged into his account from his device. "Hmm...is this a lot?" He carefully said, "Seven thousand...eight hundred and...sixty-six dollars."

Everyone's eyes went wide. "How in the world do you have that much saved?" Sonic asked.

"It might have something to do with the fact I don't spend money on anything besides food. I might be reading it wrong, though." He presented the numbers to Sonic.

Sonic read the same figure. "You read it right. Nice."

"That's more than enough. Especially since I'm doing this for free," Xaun said with pride.

"How thoughtful," Jules said with a laugh and slight eye roll. "All you ask in return is food and to not have to pay rent."

"It's technically still free," he said with a chuckle. "Let's get to measuring and see where we stand."

They spent the next few hours planning the big move. A fourth tree was added to the list of trees they needed to take out. Tails showed up after Sonic called him about the Sonic-saw idea. After they effortlessly peeled through the first tree, Sonic's communicator went off. It was Amy. "Hey, Ames, what's up?"

" _I've got a cancellation for the robot fights this afternoon. Do any of you guys want to step up?_ "

"I'm still not feeling the best," Sonic said and turned to the others, "Any of you want to kick some robot ass?"

Xaun was the first to speak up, "Why don't you fight, Jules? I haven't seen you throw down in a long time."

She blushed, "I couldn't."

"You give me one damn good reason why you can't," Xaun asked with a fist on his hip.

"You can fight?" Knuckles asked in a surprised tone.

"Yeah, she can," Xaun said with confidence.

"Not anymore." She sounded flustered and unconfident.

"Hey, Amy, put Jules down," Sonic volunteered her.

"Wait! I-uh," Jules was stumped for words.

" _Got you down. Fights begin at four. It's a good idea to show up around three to get ready though. See you on TV_ ," Amy said and disconnected.

" _Can_ you fight?" Sonic asked to make sure.

"...I can give it my best shot."

"Do you not want to? You don't have to," Knuckles was supportive. He punched his two fists together, "Not everyone likes smashing things."

She chuckled, "I do enjoy smashing things. It's just frowned upon."

Xaun waved the notion away with a 'pfft', "Please. The last thing I need to see is **you** adhering to gender norms. What's next? You gonna start wearing pants?"

Jules blushed a deep red.

"What do you mean by gender norms?" Tails asked.

"Echidna women don't do much beyond housekeeping and raising kids. They _do_ control any, and all, money that comes into the house, but usually don't work jobs of their own. Re'kar and Kai-Li are the exception," Xaun said.

"That's not fair," Knuckles said and turned to Jules, "You go ahead and kick as much ass as you want."

Julie-Su smiled wide, "Let's see what I got, then."

Later that day Julie-Su stepped into the ring with her first opponent. She got cat calls whistled from the crowd. She blushed and straightened out her metal knuckle spikes. "Ignore them," she calmed herself.

Knuckles yelled, "You got this, Jules!"

Julie-Su heard his cheer and it drown out her stress. She waved and smiled. Dr. Eggman's scorpion bot came out and readied itself for the fight. "Come at me scrapheap! You got nothin!" She taunted. The fight ended as quickly as it started. Jules fast moves dodged the two tail shots it managed to fire. She got between it's claws and landed a fist straight down. It's head was crushed. She had her fist raised in the air by the ref-bot while everyone cheered. "Who's next? Let's keep going!" She shouted. The next four opponents came out one after another and were summarily pummelled in similar fashion. Jules put a foot on the pile of robot carcasses as the ref raised her fist in the air once more.

Xaun stood there nodding while all the others watched on in quiet awe. "Told you she could fight."

Knuckles was slack jawed. "No joke," he said as he composed himself.

Jules bounced happily around, punching her fists together, as they cleared the ring for her next triumph.

"She knows how to work a crowd, too," Sonic said. The whistling had died off and chants of 'Julie! Su! Julie! Su!' filled the room instead.

Jules soaked it up and egged the audience on for more. "I can't hear you!" She raised a hand to her ear and they cheered louder.

The big robot Eggman had promised finally made an appearance. With six arms it showed off it's martial arts moves before the fight. "I wonder if she'll dodge all the attacks," Eggman's voice sounded from behind them.

Knuckles spoke over his shoulder, "Want to put money on it?"

Eggman pulled out his wallet, "What do you got, Nuffles?"

He held up two fingers, "Two hundred says she won't get hit once."

"Make it five," Eggman said. They shook on it and they put their money on the table. Fastidious beaver marked down the transaction.

"Remember, we have renovations to do. Don't gamble it all away," Tails said with worry.

"This isn't gambling. I'm just taking Eggman's money," Knuckles said cockily.

"We'll see about that. This robot is a state of the art-," Eggman's explanation continued as Jules made quick work of his invention.

Jules was cautious with her last fight. Since she'd been fighting and winning so easily, she assumed it was to throw her off and trick her with something complicated at the end. She'd called it. Jules kept her distance as she learned the robot's moveset. "You're faster than the others," she said as she bounced around the ring avoiding all the punches thrown by the half dozen arms. "You aren't going to get tired, so you're trying to tire me out, is it, huh?" She held on and weaved through the flying fists gracefully.

She had an idea to gain the upper hand. "Lots of arms means lots of weight, which means, compromised balance if you lose one." She sidestepped a hit. "And when you take a shot at me, you body needs to recoil and I move in for the kill," she said and snuck around the side and punched off one arm. The robot was unbalanced and staggered. "A little more footwork," she said and went around the back so it needed to turn. She doubled back and took out the other arm from the opposite side. A dozen quick strikes to the head and the mechanical beast was toppled.

"Therefor, he can't possibly-" The robot hit the ground in front of him. "Let me finish a thought, would you! Dammit!" Eggman tossed his hands in their air.

"Better luck next time," Knuckles said and collected his bucks from the beaver bookie. "Woo-hoo! Way to go, babe!" Knuckles yelled and waved his winnings at her. She approached him and leaned through the ring's ropes. After a quick kiss he said, "You should have said you were good at fighting! I'd have put more money down on you." With a hug he helped her jump to the ground.

"I wasn't sure of myself; I haven't fought in years. At least we know for next time," she said.

"And we've got to work on your image," Dixon said from behind them, "I'm thinking 'booty shorts'. Nothing says 'I kick booty' like booty shorts." He put an arm around her, "Walk with me, talk with me," he said and was stopped in his tracks by Sonic.

"Get lost Dixon," he said, "If anyone is going to represent her, it's going to be one of us."

He shrugged. "What do you know about marketing for wrestling? I started my career helping poor shmucks like her get noticed."

Knuckles picked him up by the scruff, "What did you call her?"

"I said 'shmuck'! Someone who's new and doesn't know the business!" He clarified his words.

"Let's hear him out," Jules said and helped lower Dixon to the floor.

"I got noticed as a celebrity before," Knuckles said, "I've got the looks, the charm and the strength to appeal to the people. I'd like to think I know what I'm doing."

"That's great and all, but here's the thing: She's got all that too. I can help her with the things she doesn't have, like representation. I have connections to character consultants, fashion consultants, health consultants! You name it, I have a consultant I can throw at you."

Knuckles pointed a finger at his face. "Alright. I guess we can trust you. One condition," he said.

"Name it."

"What's a 'consultant'?"

"My friends," Dixon put his arms around Knuckles and Jules, "Let's chew the fat and I'll give you the skinny." They brushed by Sonic, who looked snubbed as he grumbled.

"Jules, help, what's happening, are we going for dinner?" Knuckles whisper-yelled to her.

"He wants to talk to us about a deal regarding the fights. I think," she whisper-yelled back.

"We're going to make a mint!" Dixon said.

"Oh, good, I like mints," Knuckles said and set his mind at ease.

* * *

Yeah...can't stop, won't stop. :P


	38. Chapter 38: Getting Started

Gonna plant some seeds...

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 38: Getting Started-**_

* * *

After a lengthy discussion with Dixon, Jules decided to forego signing anything right away. She held on to the contract they drew up as they made their way to the arena's lobby. "I think it'd be fun, but I want to help you guys build first. The more hands we have, the quicker everything gets finished."

"It's up to you," Knuckles said.

They met up with Sonic and Sticks in the lobby, Tails and Xaun had already left. "Let's head to the shore. Amy called a minute ago and said the ferry was getting ready to go. She wants us to bump elbows before they leave," Sonic said.

They made it to the shore and chatted with the visitors as they boarded. Amy talked the ear off one guest in particular. The ship rolled out on schedule, shortly after six. The passengers were treated to a buffet for their overnight trip home. Some chowed down while others waved 'goodbye' over the edge as the ferry shoved off. Within a few minutes they were a blur on the horizon.

"What was all that about?" Sonic asked as he saw Amy internally screaming.

"A major shareholder of Tonic Concentration was here!" Amy externally screamed. "He said he loves the natural feel of our island and he's going to send his associates here next week to scout for a place to set up shop!" Amy held her cheeks as her smile began to cramp. "I buttered him up pretty good, so I hope other businesses are going to follow him."

Sonic nodded, "Gotta admit, the food you bought from them was pretty good."

"They're the first business to speak up and say they would move here. I'm excited to see them start building," Amy said.

"Speaking of building, let's go take a look at what we've got done before the sun sets," he said and the group went to check on the progress at Knuckles hut.

The whole back yard was cleared. The remaining stumps had been unearthed and the ground flattened. The gnarled roots sat next to their four former tree trunks. Xaun was out back. He stripped the last of the branches from the downed trees with a small axe.

"You're expanding this far back?" Amy asked as she walked around the back of Sonic's old place. "It's strange to see it so open."

"We're keeping the house but we're going to move half of it this way," Knuckles said and explained the whole idea.

"That sounds amazing," she replied. "It'll actually be livable after you're done."

After Xaun finished stripping the trees, he pulled out a brief design of his idea. "Full kitchen and dining area, one bed, one bath and the whole backside here is a living area."

She looked it over. "This is going to be nicer than our place when you're finished," Amy said.

Xaun folded up the rough design. "I'm curious though. How do you have electricity going to this place at all? Where are the wires?" he asked as he looked 'up' to see how Knuckles was running his fridge and stereo.

"I've got a line from Tails house," Knuckles said and picked up the extension cord that stretched all the way to his friend's place.

Xaun's eye twitched. "That's a huge fire hazard."

"Does Tails know you're doing this?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah. He's the one who gave me the cord. He said it's weatherproof."

"We've got a lot of work to do. I thought you were on the grid," Xaun said as he face palmed.

"I'll go call mayor Fink and get a new line in," Amy said and walked off to make the call.

"Tails has a generator. Why not use that for now?" Sticks suggested.

"I'll go talk to him," Sonic said and took off to Tails place. Sure enough, the cord was plugged in around the side beneath a roof, protected from the elements. He knocked on the door to his shop and no one answered. "Must be home," he said and darted over to the house. Tails appeared in the doorway and closed it behind him. "Hey...Tails. Busy?" he asked suspiciously.

"Mina and I are going over the parameters for her show."

Sonic gave him sly eyes, "I thought that's what you were doing this morning?"

He quickly responded. "Finer details. Did you need something?"

Sonic nodded, "We need a generator. Xaun's uncomfortable running a cord to give Knuckles place power."

"I guess it's going to be the dry months soon, probably best to air on the side of caution. The big generator is on the shelf in the back. Use the big one so you only have to charge it every couple of days."

"Thanks, buddy. Have fun planning," he said and turned and waved.

Tails blushed. "I will," he said and hit the switch to disarm his shop. He watched Sonic leave the shop with the generator, unplugged and gathered the cord and took off again. Tails rearmed his shop and went back inside with Mina.

"Was that Sonic's voice I heard?" Mina asked as she opened another piece of fan mail.

"Yeah. They're helping Knuckles remodel his house and they need a generator." He sat back at the table with Mina. "We took out the trees this morning and there's so much more room out back now."

"That's a lot of work; I prefer designing interior. I'm sure if I wasn't singing, I'd have my own reality show. It feels good to sit down and really appreciate a room you've put together yourself. It's like a stage, but quieter." Mina signed another headshot, sealed it in an envelope and put it with the others in the pile.

Tails nodded and picked up a heavy box. The wrapping paper was tied up at the top with swirling rainbow ribbon. "Amy's into interior design too. She might be able to offer a second opinion to your show, if you need it."

"I'll keep that in mind. I spoke to her this afternoon, she's really nice; and I'm not just saying that because she's a fan of mine."

"Heh, I'll say. She nearly hit the roof when I told her you'd be performing here." He cut the ribbon and opened the box to reveal a bottle of expensive champagne.

"Really? I'm a bit worried because she's pregnant. I hope my fans aren't too rowdy for her."

"Why don't we do the concert close to her and Sonic's house? She'd be able to see the whole show and not have to worry about getting bumped around." He laid the bottle down and opened the card attached to it, "From: Silka and the Gurlz, spelled with a 'z' at the end."

Mina brightened up as she examined the bottle. "She remembered?" she said and gave an 'ooh' of approval as the top gave a crisp clean 'pop'. "Do you have orange juice?"

"Yes. In the fridge."

She got up and poured them both champagne and topped it off with orange juice. "This is a 'Mimosa'. It's my favourite drink. I'm glad Silka found this again. There's only one place that makes it and it's a limited batch every year." She enjoyed a sip.

Tails wasn't old enough to drink; regardless, he took a drink of the bubbly citrusy concoction. ' _I'll be nineteen in less than a year. Just one,_ ' he thought. From his experience at Re'kar's, he could only handle one drink before he got way too chatty. "That is pretty tasty," he said.

"Glad you like it. Think of it as a thank you for helping me sort this stuff out. I get so much mail I never have enough time to get through it all on my own."

"No problem."

"Want to call it quits for the night? We can totally pick this up another time."

Tails held the pile in his hand. "We only have five more. Let's power through them."

"Alright," Mina held up her hands in defeat. "You're a solid worker, Tails. I have a feeling trusting you with the stage was a great choice."

"Oh, Mina, don't jinx it," he said and laughed with her.

"Right. It'll be terrible! A horrible mess! My hair will catch on fire and everything."

Tails laughed and held out a hand to stop her, "Don't give fate any ideas."

"Okay, I won't use hairspray," she said with a laugh.

He nodded. "We'll split the cheek and say the show will be good. Nothing more, nothing less. Just good."

Mina nodded. "Good." They both paused in silence and looked around the room. "...do you think the fates heard?"

"We can only wait and see," they chuckled and clinked out a cheers.

* * *

Aww, a new budding friendship. How sweet. ;D


	39. Chapter 39: Girls Night

Alright, I've done my research! I feel a lot better about writing my story this way now. It has been brought to my attention that the Sonic series, in general, started out kind of silly and then slid into drama by the time SatAM rolled around. My fic is kind of doing the same thing. We started out silly and now we're getting serious.

I may end up killing someone by the end of this. 8D (No plans yet though)

I was researching to see if any of the ideas I came up with had been done already. With over 300 actual printed comics under their belt, there isn't much Team Sonic hasn't done. Plenty of death, war and destruction abound to boot.

Anyhoo, time for gossip. ;P

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 39: Girls Night-**_

* * *

Sonic fired up the generator. The fridge hummed and a green lamp blinked on. "Feel better?" he asked.

"Much. Thanks," Xaun said. "I can make peace with the wood stove for the next few days. I'm throwing this out here now, if you want to live in a wood hut, put tiles beneath your stove."

"I'll see if I can hunt down some terracotta bricks to prop it up for now." Amy said then turned to Sonic. "What was Tails up to?"

"Heh, he had company."

Amy's eyes went wide. "Whooo?"

"Mina."

"Whyyyyy?" She asked, but that time her wide eyes went a little crazy.

"He said he was going over 'finer details' with her."

"That's twice in one day she's over there!" Amy said quickly, "Is she still there now?" Sonic shrugged. She hastily called Tails. "Hi, Tails, you busy?"

" _Kinda. I'm helping Mina._ "

She contained her excitement. "Whenever you two are done, let her know we're going to have a girls night over at Sticks burrow." She looked to Sticks, who was giving her two thumbs up and nodding frantically. "We were wondering if she wanted to come along."

"I take it you're a fan," Sonic asked Sticks who hastily nodded again, this time with crossed fingers.

Sticks got closer to Amy to hear what was being said easier.

" _It'd be rude to ditch you for the girls,_ " Mina said in the background.

" _No, no, ditch away. I have a lot of math to do for your show. We have a couple more things to finish here and then you're done._ "

"Great. I'll pick up snacks. Tails, could you show Mina to Sticks place, please?"

" _Absolutely. See you within the hour._ "

Sticks and Amy squealed as they bounced up and down holding each other's hands. "Come on Jules, let's go," Amy said. She and Sticks dragged her off backwards, with both her feet dragging along the sand.

"Have fun," Knuckles waved as Julie-Su was kidnapped.

"I don't think I have a choice." Jules smiled warmly at the girls enthusiasm. She started walking on her own. "I've never had a 'girls night' before, and who's Mina?"

"You'll have fun. We just stay up and talk. Mina's a celebrity singer who wants to do a concert on our island. Gosh, I hope I can go. Her concerts can get..." Amy tried to think of a word.

"Terrifying," Sticks said.

"I wouldn't say that."

"She had a ten person Mardi Gras dragon breathing fire coloured confetti and glitter dancing around with her on stage. And now, Tails is hooking her up with actual fire! If it was slightly rowdy and eyebrow raising before, I think we've crossed the line of it becoming 'terrifying'...I can't wait to go," she said with excitement.

"She's always pushing performance boundaries. I'll watch from the rooftops if I have to," Amy and Sticks giggled.

Jules nodded. "We did that in the city because most of us were too broke to afford tickets. We watched from the top of the hotel to get a glimpse of The Bank playing."

"Your bank held a concert?" Amy asked.

She laughed. "'The Bank' are a metal band."

"Mina sings a lot of pop music, but she's branched out into adult contemporary on her most recent album. Sonic said he listened to a bit of it today and he liked it."

After a brief jaunt through town, the girls headed towards Sticks home. On the way, they ran into Rouge and Shadow.

"Hey, you two, I thought you only came for the luau. What's the occasion?" Amy asked.

"We're here on work. Where are you all heading?" Rouge asked as she took note of all the snacks they had.

"We're going to have a girls night with Mina Mongoose."

Rouge lit up, "You know Songoose personally?"

"Nope. Hopefully tonight that'll change. Want to come with?" Amy asked.

She turned to her partner, "Shadow, mind if I go with the girls tonight?"

He folded his arms. "We're already a day behind schedule."

"That's not my fault, captain hangover," she said with an eye roll.

Shadow huffed. "Fine, we teleport in the morning."

"Oh, boo," she said, "What time?"

"Sunrise. Don't drink tonight," he said and vanished in a blink.

"What the hell?!" Jules exclaimed as she examined the ground where the black hedgehog was only moments ago. Her hands swished around in the air to see if he was still there.

"He can teleport. I hate teleporting. It gives me me the shakes," Rouge said with a shrug.

"But...how?" Jules wasn't impressed with how unimpressed everyone else was. "You're telling me, the drunk guy I found in a bush...is a magical hedgehog? Does he also grant wishes?"

Rouge shook her head. "I don't think so. It's technology, not magic."

Jules shook her head in return, "I think that line has been crossed."

They took the slightly catatonic Julie-Su to Sticks hut. Mina showed up shortly after. Amy briefly stepped out to talk to Tails. "Finer details? Explain, please."

Tails cheeks caught a reddish hue. "She wanted help opening her fan mail and also needed a place to print off some pictures. I printed them out for her. We spent the last couple hours opening gifts and sending a signed photograph with a short note in return."

"That's sweet of you both. You're not putting the moves on her, I hope," Amy said slyly.

He folded his arms, "I didn't intend to."

"That's good. I'd hate for Mina to get in trouble."

"What? How?"

"Tails, she's eight years older than you, and you're still a minor. She may think you're older than you are because of your height." Amy looked up at Tails standing a few inches taller than her.

"I never thought of that."

"Ha! I knew you were putting the moves on her," Amy said as she got a little closer to him and lowered her voice, "I'm serious, Tails, she could-" Amy sniffed the air in front of her. "Why do you smell like booze?"

Tails took a step back and help up a hand, "Mina got a bottle of champagne from a friend and she shared a glass with me."

"Where's the bottle?" Amy took a defensive stance.

"Still in my fridge. I don't intend to drink it, if that's what you're wondering."

She shook her head, "No. It does mean that she's probably interested in you in return." Amy tapped a foot. "I suggest you keep your relationship professional; next time you help her, find a way to 'age drop' on yourself. Mina's potentially a huge selling point for the island. We need to keep her safe."

Tails nodded, slightly discouraged, "I understand."

"Where's Zooey in all of this?"

He shrugged. "She told me she wants to stay friends until she's done school."

"Regardless, Mina's off limits until you're nineteen."

Tails nodded again as he began to lift off. "Point taken."

Amy gently tugged Tails down to the ground, "No drinking and flying."

Tails threw his hands in the air in defeat and walked off.

"I'm sorry Tails, it's for the best," Amy said to no one as she reentered the house. The girls were scrolling through a list of movies to watch. "What are we all in the mood for?"

Mina had her eyes fixed on her tablet. "I was thinking psychological thriller. How does Donnie Darko sound? It's the story of a young rabbit who learns about time travel, and there's this freaky guy in a human costume that follows him around. It's one of those movies where you watch it once and are like, 'what the hell did I just watch?' Then you watch it again and you're all ' _now_ it makes sense'."

"I'm down," Jules said while the others nodded.

After the movie a discussion ensued between Mina and Julie-Su about whether or not time travel was possible. Mina was unconvinced until Jules said, "I watched a guy teleport today, so I'm apt to believe in it right about now."

"Teleport?" Mina repeated.

"Yeah. He was there, then, pop, he was gone."

"Who?" Mina sounded skeptical.

"That guy she's always with," Jules said and referenced Rouge.

Rouge smiled, "I'd like to state for the record that Shadow's an ageless, hedgehog-alien hybrid with mechanical augmentations. There isn't much he can't do...besides not holding his liquor."

"Oh, the black and red guy? He's pretty cute. How long have you two been together," Mina asked.

"Three years. But we're partners, not lovers."

"That's not what I heard last night," Amy singsonged.

"Oooh, workplace relationship," Mina said scandalously.

She laughed and waved the notion away, "Please. That was a oneshot deal. I tried to talk to him about it today and he's not interested in having a repeat."

"Or so he says," Amy stated.

"I know when Shadow's being serious," she stated.

"Most the time, from what I've seen," Sticks said.

Rouge nodded in agreement. "True. He doesn't let his hair down much."

"I'm surprised he drinks at all," she added.

"If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't even do that."

"It's nice to see he can have fun. And here I thought he was only hellbent on destroying Sonic," Amy said.

"He is, but when we found out you were pregnant he said he'd wait till after you gave birth. He may be a bit distant but his heart's in the right place."

"Tell us about the first time you drank with him. What was he like?" Mina asked.

"Yeah," Amy added, "How did you convince him in the first place?"

"Here's the thing: I didn't," she said with a sheepish laugh. "When the colonel told me about who I'd be working with, my heart sank. He stated that Shadow wasn't much for talking or fun or being around others unless it's for work. I, for the life of me, can't work with someone who can't loosen up. I figured a good way to get him to show some slack, was to liquor him up a bit. I spiked his coffee with whisky creamer. I then played it up like I didn't know there was booze in it, and by that time I'd already succeeded. We sat around and mocked newscasters for the remainder of the evening."

"Was he mad?" Mina asked.

"Surprisingly, no. He laughed. I'd been working with him for five months and it was the first time I saw him make any sort of facial expression beyond his usual scowl. He did eventually call me on it, saying," She mimicked his voice, "'You knew damn well there was alcohol in there.' But he had a big grin when he said it." Rouge laughed with the girls. "You saw him talking to Sonic yesterday. He's a totally different person when he's had a few. I think knowing he can let his guard down and nothing bad will happen did him some good."

"Sonic? He's the blue hedgehog, right? " Mina asked.

"Yep. We're expecting twins in a few months," Amy pat her tummy.

"Kick ass," Mina said.

The girls stayed up and chatted until bedtime.

Sunrise was upon them when Shadow teleported into Sticks house. "Intruder," she yelled, jumped up and attempted to strike him with her pole. Everyone quickly woke up and saw Shadow standing in the middle of the room.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked Rouge as he caught Sticks stick in one hand and didn't let go. She struggled to get it back with no luck.

Rouge got up and stretched. "I'm coming," she said with a loud yawn. Sticks finally was given her weapon back when Rouge put an arm around Shadow. "Thanks for having me. Buh-bye," she said and waved as the two blinked out of existence.

"What the hell?!" Mina shouted.

Jules followed up. "That's what I said!"

* * *

Next up is a Rouge and Shadow chapter. I adore Rouge and writing for her is a lot of fun.


	40. Chapter 40: Depths

^x^

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 40: Depths-**_

* * *

Shadow and Rouge teleported to their first location deep within the jungle. A desolate tomb made of carved sandstone laid in front of them. "Here we go," she said. The map stealing device produced a projection. "This was the smallest place. Easy in. Easy out."

He looked at the large crumbled doors. "The main chamber looks too collapsed to get by."

Rouge sighed. "I noticed," she said and put her arm around him again. They teleported past the rubble. She shivered and rubbed her goosebumped arms. "I hope we can find another way out."

They walked down the dusty, dim corridor. Bits of roof had collapsed and allowed the sun to shine in occasionally. "If you did it more often, it wouldn't bother you so much," he said.

"Oh, it's fine when you say it," she said sarcastically.

"I meant teleporting."

She playfully stuck her tongue out at him. Rouge swore she heard a single, near silent, 'ha' out of him. After a half hour of exploring they found the room they were looking for. "This should be the lab." There were handles on either side of the large double doors. "It takes two," she said with a wink.

Shadow took hold of the leaver. "If it still works." Both pulled down at the same time. The floor beneath them dropped out. Unable to open wings or start jets in time, she and Shadow hit the water below. "Disgusting," Rouge said and spat stagnant water. "What's this?" She kicked her leg and felt a series of spikes beneath them. "I guess that could have gone a whole lot worse. How do we get out?"

"You can fly."

"Not with wet wings. _You_ can fly."

"Not with wet shoes," he said dryly.

"...dammit."

"I can teleport us."

"Not again, too soon," she said with a whine.

"Suit yourself," he said and teleported back to dry land and shook himself dry. He extended an arm down into the hole. "Can you reach?"

Rouge reached up and her fingers grazed Shadows. "Just the tip."

He sighed. "Hang on, I'll grab a vine from outside." He blinked out and back in with a rubbery plant rope.

After getting out, Rouge scratched her arms. A faint residue of algae clung to them. "I need a shower. Who knows how long that water's been sitting there." She scanned the door with a device from her pocket. "I wish we could deactivate the forcefield so you could pop in there and grab what we need. It seems the seal still has a charge."

"We could always break the door."

Rouge shook her head. "I'd hate to ruin this place. Let's check to see if there's another way in." She flicked her wings dry and flew around the door to see if there was an additional latch. "I found something." Rouge pulled a chain that allowed the doors to slide open on their own. "Heh, how about that?" She took Shadow's hands and flew him over the hole and into the darkness.

Shadow let go and landed in the dusty tomb. They walked around the chamber unable to see much. While the hallway had small openings for natural light to shine in, the lab was solid black. Shadow turned on a flashlight while Rouge used her own eyes. Although both of them were nocturnal, Shadow lacked the ability to see finer details. "You start with the bookshelf, I'll go through the desk." She used sonar to see clearly.

"...what was that sound?" Shadow asked over his shoulder as he tossed book after book aside.

"What sound? This?" She made the noise again.

He paused. "Is that echolocation?"

"Yes. I'm surprised you can hear me." They continued on their search.

"Interesting. I can't actually hear it. It's drowning out other noise because the sound waves are still reaching my ears; but because I can't hear sonar, it's registering it as silence." He turned back to the bookshelf and opened more books to find nothing hidden in the pages.

"That is interesting. It sounds like a high pitched boat radar for me." Rouge leaned down to check the other drawers. "Speaking of radar, rather staying off it, it was pretty clever of these scientists to use old ruins to set up their research. Shame they weren't still running power down here. I'd take a lightbulb over teleport blockers." The light from Shadow's flashlight and from the door were enough for Rouge to see all of the desks surface and storage below. She grabbed a pin from her over the shoulder bag. After picking the simple lock she got into the lowest drawer. "I think I found something good," Rouge made the same sonar sound a bit longer to identify the treasure she'd found. "Yes. This is it."

They left the gloom. Rouge opened the small black box to reveal two glowing batteries. "Aww, I thought they were going to be actual crystals." Each one was no larger than a thumb. They glowed blue with chaos energy from it's middle chamber. The top and bottom were capped with silver metal and each end contained diodes. "I was hoping for a bigger stash. And something prettier."

Shadow took the box in hand and marveled at all the untapped chaos energy. "We have twenty-three more of these places to go. We may find an actual crystal yet."

"Are you counting the additional five we may need to write off due to flooding or landslides in the area?"

"No. There's plenty left to search. We should take these to Eggman first. It may be enough for him to start drilling." He shut the box and sealed it's latch.

Rough sighed. "I take it we don't have time to walk."

"Afraid not," he said and laid a hand on her shoulder. In an instant they were at Eggman's front door. "Mad scientists have an affinity for blockers, I see." Shadow laid a frustrated knock on the door. Nothing. "Get up, old man." Shadow snapped at the camera.

The intercom buzzed and Orbot's voice sounded. "Good morning, Shadow and Rouge." He opened the door. When the two were in the lobby he held out electronic wristbands for each of them. "You can unlock the door remotely with these. After Eggman goes under the knife, we may be too busy to stop and let you in."

"Thank you." Rouge put hers on and beeped the door open and shut again. "How novel."

Shadow handed the small red robot the box in exchange for his key to the front door.

"Another surgery? What for this time?" Rouge asked.

"He's installing a new spine."

"Heh, about time," Shadow snarked.

Rouge was shocked. "That sounds risky. He's getting the automated robots to do this, I take it."

Orbot nodded and wrung his hands together. "It sounds spooky, I'm concerned for him as well. If he's going to be paralyzed in a wheelchair within the next couple of years regardless, it's best we try to what we can now. His nephew Snively said he'd be here within the week for us to begin."

Shadow changed the subject. "I want to talk to Eggman about my money."

Orbot grabbed an envelope from the console and passed it to Shadow. "The rest of your money has already been deposited. I was unable to send additional funds due to security restrictions. In here is a twenty percent bonus for not complying with your contract in full."

He tore it open and peered inside. "Meagre, but I accept."

"Understand we're in the process of getting a large donation together to send to the militia. If we don't find an income balance, we run the risk of upsetting the Duchess."

Rouge brightened up, "You've met her?"

He shook his head. "No, I only received correspondence through Dr. Eggman; and he, through the Colonel."

"Same for us," she said.

"I hear she's a tough customer. Those three guests the doctor, ahem, invited for a private cocktail party, were her scouts. They were sent to check on Dr. Eggman's compliance. Albeit they were pleased, it's nerve wracking to know how close this war is to us. The scouts also told us the Duchess herself would be visiting the island very shortly."

"Don't worry, she'll love us," Rouge said as she scrolled through her device. "We've already made progress and we're about to make a bit more. Right there. There's one we can walk to within the hour. You'll be drilling in no time."

"I was unaware you were informed about that," he said with surprise.

"My dear, I'm always on the up and up." She tugged at the edge of her damp clothing. "Presentation is everything though. Would it be alright if we cleaned up a bit first? A water pitfall got the better of us."

"By all means. Follow me," he said and led them to the guest showers. "We have no patrons at the moment, so feel free to use whatever soaps or towels you need. The washer and dryer are in the back. I'll go set it to home mode so you don't need coins."

"Thanks sweetie," she said and walked off to undress. She peeked back around the corner, "Where's your little yellow friend?"

Orbot hesitated, "He's a bit smitten with you. He's probably in the garden with a flower, plucking it's petals off wistfully."

A quick pan to Cubot in the garden doing just that. "She loves me, she loves me not."

Orbot shrugged. "I told him he can't have relations with other employs."

"Poor dear, I've broken his heart. Don't worry, I'm sure he'll love again," she said and disappeared behind the corner once more.

"Here," Shadow handed Orbot his jet shoes. "Dry these and see if Eggman can get them to work underwater."

Orbot left with the shoes and the batteries.

Rouge tossed their clothes in the wash then took a stall down from Shadow. A few minutes passed and the wash was done. "I'll toss it in the dryer."

"Thanks."

She got out and switched on the dryer. "There...heh." She grinned. When she turned to resume bathing, she went to Shadow's stall instead.

The shower curtain flew open. "Was there not enough water in your shower?" he asked and didn't turn around but continued to rinse off.

"Kind of. The water wasn't hot enough," she said and slid her arms around him, avoiding quills as best she could.

"Aren't these all on the same pipeline?" he asked.

Rouge took this as a sign to stay. She figured he'd have told her to leave the moment she showed up. She got under the stream of water with him, "Feels hotter to me."

Shadow turned to face her with soft, half lidded eyes and a smirk. "You're persistent." He pulled her body closer.

"Aren't I," she said and leaned into a kiss.

Still being new to those kind of encounters, Shadow followed her lead. Being in a narrow shower stall didn't help. With Rouge's guidance, he had her pinned up against the wall and took her from behind. He held a leg up to ensure he could lay into her and she wouldn't slip away.

After they finished running up Eggman's hydro bill, Rouge checked on their things. She patted her fur down with a fluffy white towel. "There's a few minutes left on the timer." She heard a ruckus in the hall.

"Cubot! Stop!" Orbot yelled from down the hall.

"I can't! I must tell my sweet how I feel!" Cubot rushed into the shower area and came face to face with a nude Rouge. The flower with the single petal in his hand fell as he fainted from the sight.

"What?" she scoffed, "Shadow's naked all the time and you don't react like that for him." Rouge walked off and passed in front of Orbot who did his best to look away.

Shadow walked out into the hall, barefoot, as Cubot was regaining consciousness. "What the hell are you doing?" He watched her bottomless bottom walk away.

"I'm going to see what the good doctor has to say. I don't think his robots should be discriminating against me." Rouge let herself into the console area.

"That woman's confusing," he said with folded arms.

Cubot looked at Shadow with no shoes or gloves on and proceeded to cover his eyes and took off. "Dude! Cover your shame!"

He tossed his arms up. "Where is the line drawn on acceptable nudity!?" He went back into the bathroom to wait for the dryer. "Damn idiots," he grumbled.

* * *

:D


	41. Chapter 41: My Direction

;P

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 41: My Direction-**_

* * *

Eggman worked on Shadow's request with Orbot close by.

"Dr. Eggman, I have a bone to pick with you," Rouge said and walked up alongside him. A nervous Cubot was close behind her.

His attention was broken briefly. "What is it? And don't you usually wear clothes?"

"That's exactly what I'm talking about. Cubot was so shocked, the boy fainted at the sight of me." She goaded Eggman a little.

"Cubot! What's the big idea offending Rouge?!" He scolded the robot.

She hugged Cubot close and made him catatonic. "No, no, it's not his fault. You're the one who programmed him."

"Oh my, I'll cherish this moment forever," Cubot said quietly.

"Orbot and Cubot have self learning AI, I can't control their opinions. Though it is odd. None of the Gogoba women wear clothing and he never said anything about that." Eggman popped the latch on the bottom of Shadow's footwear and then paused in thought. "Hmm...now that you mention it, the clothing thing is very one sided. Why are any anthro's wearing clothing at all? I mean, shoes make sense, but why everything else? Did humans influence that?" He turned around to face Rouge. "The only other woman outside of the Gogoba's tribe who doesn't adhere to the norm, is that big oaf Nibble's girlfriend. What's her name?"

"Julie-Su."

"Yeah, Luci-Lu; she only wears a top with the obligatory shoes and gloves. I would ask but she seems like the violent type; I'm not about to question what she wears. Rouge, dear, I don't think you should really care all that much. Wear, or don't wear, what you want. And you!" He snapped at Cubot as he got back to work, "Behave yourself."

"Yes, boss," he said.

Shadow came in with Rouge's dried clothes folded in his arms. "Here." She took her garments. Cubot no longer reacted to him. He had on ankle socks. "Really? That's where the line is?" He huffed and put his gloves on as well. "How much longer are you going to take on those?"

Eggman soldered wires. "I needed to recast a few pieces but I'm out of the metal I need. I have a drone on the way to drop off more. It'll be here in an hour. Then one hour of actual work to finish up, tops."

"What direction is the drone coming from? I'll intercept it and take it here," Shadow said.

Eggman pointed. "The warehouse is in that direction. It should be at about halfway. I'll take down the teleport inhibitor for now." He pressed the button on his wrist mounted device.

Shadow was gone in an instant.

"While you boys take care of that, I'm going to go dry off on the beach. Ta-ta." She grabbed her bag and flew off to the warm sands, carrying her clothes.

"She's so bright and full of life...how can she stand being around Shadow?" Cubot laid a sad head down on the console to complain. "I could be her everything."

"Workplace romances are difficult to maintain. Let it go," Eggman said.

"I think Shadow and Rouge manage it just fine," Orbot said cattily.

Shadow reappeared with a busted drone and the package it was carrying.

"Did you need to smash it?" Eggman took both items from Shadow.

"It kept dodging me. Where's Rouge?"

"She went to the beach to sunbathe."

Again, Shadow was gone without a trace.

Eggman left the shoes on the console and headed to a different part of his lab. His knee felt near perfect. "...wait?" Eggman looked at Orbot. "Are you sure?"

"About what?" Cubot asked.

"Are those two an item? I do love gossip. Spill." Eggman opened the box the drone tried to deliver and took out several ingots of a rare metal.

"I noticed the shower running for a while and went to check why. That's when I.. _heard them_ ," he said with an awkward tone.

Eggman laughed as he walked about his lab. "Shadow was in an extremely good mood. He was in the room with me for nearly a full minute and didn't insult me once." He dropped the metal bars into a vat to melt them down. "I didn't even get sneered at," he said in a giddy voice.

"I guess I couldn't give her that kind of thing," Cubot said distantly. "I'd gladly be her doorstop if she'd have me."

Unable to deal with his antics, Orbot went over to the brokenhearted bot. "For the love of all that keeps me sane, come here," He approached Cubot with two extended thumbs to reset him.

"NO!" A chase ensued. "I don't ever want to forget her beautiful image, standing there, like a shining goddess! Her supple essence cradling my tender frame! No! Don't take this away from me! Nooo! NOOOO!" They bounded over tables and knocked the arm of a deactivated robot into another table full of surgical instruments and sent everything flying.

The doctor shouted, "Cut the crap you two!"

Cubot was finally caught and reset by Orbot. "Feel better?"

He blinked a few times. "About what?"

"About cleaning," Orbot said and passed Cubot a nearby mop and bucket. "A couple of stalls need a wash down in the guest showers."

Cubot saluted while he held the items. He puttered off to fulfill his duty.

"I never took you to be a germophobe," Eggman said as he reorganized his lab.

"I'm a genderless, sexless robot, sir; I'm not bothered by those matters. Miss Rouge said she and Shadow fell into a pitfall full of water during their time in the ruins. I scanned her and there were traces of algae on her clothes and fur. I don't want to risk it flourishing on the tiles."

"Quick thinking," he commended him.

"I try."

Down on the beach, Rouge laid out on one of the many lounge chairs available for the public. "Let's see if anyone calls me on it," she said. Rouge soaked in the early morning sun. She only wore shades and a smile.

Shadow appeared next to her. "What are you doing? We're working right now."

She briefly lifted the sunglasses to say, "I'm drying off. Besides, we're waiting for your shoes to get upgraded." She looked down. "Take your socks off, you look like a hobo wearing those out here."

Shadow did so and took up the chair next to Rouge.

"And the gloves," she said and held open the bag on the ground next to her.

Shadow smirked. "Fine." He tossed his things in the bag and dried out, in the buff, next to Rouge.

The two dozed off until they heard from Eggman. Shadow looked at the position of the sun nearly directly above them. "Rouge!" He shouted to wake her and turned on the communicator from the bag.

" _Where'd you run off to? Your shoes have been done for a while now,_ " Eggman said.

"Why didn't you call sooner?!" he snapped.

" _I didn't know if you two were 'busy' or not._ " They could hear the 'air quotes'.

Shadow blushed. He muted the feed. "He must have heard us earlier." He unmuted.

Rouge smirked deviously. "We were drying off on the beach and dozed off. That's my fault. I'm inspiring him to be lazy."

" _No skin off my nose. These batteries are more than enough to get me started drilling._ "

"I'll head back and get my shoes, we'll get the next place cleared, and if we make a decent find, we'll call it a day." He hung up.

Sonic ran past carrying two bags of cement mix and his eye caught Shadow as he sat up. He ground to a halt near them. "Hey, guys. You're looking," he assessed both of them, "...comfortable."

Shadow grabbed his things from the bag, "I'll be back," he said and vanished.

"We're on break," she offered an explanation.

"What kind of work are you doing?" Sonic asked and he laid the heavy bags at his feet and rubbed his shoulder. He sat in Shadow's spot.

Rouge shrugged and laid back comfortably. "I'd say 'boring stuff' if we weren't stationed in such a lovely spot." She arm extended and presented the beautiful ocean scenery before them. "We check for high concentrations of mineral deposits around the island. If there's anything valuable, Dr. Eggman sends his robots to dig it up and it's either stored or sold. With the war overseas picking up steam, they've been raiding places like these for resources, to avoid interception from allied islands." Her craftily rehearsed alibi contained many half truths, weaved together.

"I never took Shadow to be a geologist."

"He isn't, I am. Shadow's my muscle. If I ran into some tough customers, what would I do? I'm a lover, not a fighter, dear," she said and crossed one leg over the other to let her bare foot swing. She looked at him over the rim of her glasses. "Shadow's a fighter." She rested her head back again. "We had the choice of a few places to go and he was especially happy to take the job here."

"He's determined to get a piece of me."

"You do stir a lot of unrest in the guy, that's for sure. A lot of 'ends' and 'means' seem to make you butt heads more often than not."

He nodded. "That's what it feels like."

Rouge folded her arms. "Try not to think of Shadow as an enemy, even if he gives you a hard time. He's got his own thoughts to contend with that make him how he outwardly is."

"I'll keep that in mind. Not that I want to think about Shadow _or_ 'literal pirates' raiding our village."

"Neither does the doctor. At least you have that to look forward too. It's why he's been so quiet lately. He doesn't want to draw attention to the island either."

Sonic rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. "Honestly, Rouge, I'd rather fight his dinky robots every other day than have to deal with what's coming."

Rouge raised an eyebrow. "And what's coming, do you think?"

He sat back up. "It was when we took a vacation-"

She stuck her arm out at her side again, "-seems a little redundant, but go on."

Sonic chuckled, "Just a bit. We had our own reasons for going to the mainland, but we ended up meeting some people who opened our eyes to the situation. They may need our help in the future. They've got it handled for now, but we're on speed dial if things get too hairy. I know I've got two little ones on the way, but I can't be bringing kids into this world if I'm not willing to fight for them. Maybe if I knew what was coming I'd have had kids sooner, or held off longer. Who knows? It is what it is, I'll take the trouble as it gets here."

"Sounds reasonable," Rouge sounded hopeful.

"It's how I do; I like to go with the flow. Anyway, I should be getting back. We undershot how much cement to buy," he said and lifted one bag onto his shoulder. "These are the last two we need and they're waiting on me."

Rouge got up and helped load the second bag on his other shoulder. "We'll have to swing by in the next few days to check your progress."

"Sure thing. Later," Sonic said and sped off to tell the others about either 'the best' or 'most awkward' conversation he had with Rouge, depending on who was still on site.

Shadow finally reappeared. "About time. What are you two so chummy about?" he asked.

Rouge put her glasses on her forehead and looked at him with a cat-like grin. "Jealous much?"

He huffed, "You'd be crazy to come between him and that pink psycho; and I want to make sure you aren't giving out details of our mission as casual conversation."

"That's a bit harsh."

"She's got a track record and so do you."

"Noted. And no, I'm not divulging secrets. Between my freedom and your paycheque, I don't want to come between _either_." Rouge leaned down and put her sunglasses away. "Anyway, how are the upgrades?"

"He added a pump and extra drainage at the front and back. It allows for the passage of water and small particles like sand. Provided I don't go through large amounts of gravel or mud, I should be able to use water like a jet. I'll be able to lift out of water with ease too."

She tossed their bag of stuff over her shoulder. "You have jet ski shoes?" she said in an excited tone.

Shadow was confused. "Yes. I've always had jets in my shoes."

"Not jet _ski_ though. There's a difference."

"One's on the water...so what?" Rouge rolled her eyes and spun him around to face the ocean. She flew up and landed on his back. "Ah, what are you doing?" he said as he kept his balance.

"I'll show you. Go to the water and go east." She did her best to steer him.

"Aren't you going to get dressed first?" he said with a blush as he trekked to the shoreline holding her on his back.

"I will when we get there. The ruins we're going to next, are by a river near here. We'll save some time if we don't have to walk all the way. So, giddyup," she wiggled to make him hussle.

He blushed more. "I'm not a horse, Rouge."

"Then why the long face? You've got 'jet skis'! Be excited." She raised a fist in the air.

He made it to ankle deep water and activated the water jets. It took Rouge by surprise and she held on with both hands. "WAHHH!" she screamed with excitement. "Make waves! Lots of waves!" she shouted.

Shadow skied from side to side and generated large arc's of water to which Rouge cheered on. He smiled. It was fun.

* * *

*fluff fluff fluff*


	42. Chapter 42: Building Up

Something worthwhile mentioning: I write in metaphors. All this story is allegorical; right down to Orbot and Cubot's interactions. Seriously, if there's any budding psychologists out there, go nuts and psychoanalyze me. ^x^

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 42: Building Up-**_

* * *

"This is the most tedious part," Sonic said as helped stack stones they foraged for all morning. A wooden frame held the stones in place around the edge of the, soon to be, foundation.

"If we pour without these, it'll increase how much cement we need," Xaun said as he dumped another wheelbarrow of the flat faced rocks nearby.

"I know, I'm impatient though," he said and kept working.

"You took a little longer getting back this time. Did they give you any trouble?" Tails asked as he set up the large cement mixer he cobbled together overnight.

"No, I ran into Shadow and Rouge, uh, sunbathing. I stopped to talk for a minute." Sonic waved for Knuckles, Tails and Xaun to come closer. "No idea why, but they were both naked," he said quietly with a shrug.

"Shadow doesn't usually wear clothes though," Tails said.

"No shoes or gloves. Nothing. Rouge only had sunglasses on," he said.

"That must have been quite a site," Xaun said with raised eyebrows.

"I'll say," Sonic said with a smirk.

"What'll you say?" Jules asked the huddled guys. She wore a face mask around her neck and held four cement bags on one shoulder.

All but Knuckles looked awkward and tried to dodge the question. "Naked Rouge," he unabashedly said.

"Dude," Sonic scolded him.

"Cool," she replied.

"Dude?" Sonic repeated himself in the form of a question.

Knuckles shrugged. "Me and Jules check out girls all the time."

She gave him a peck on the cheek followed by a devious smirk, "And I got to share a bed with her last night," Jules said and earned a high-five from her boyfriend. She walked off to mix the cement with Tails.

"Duuude," Sonic repeated himself a third, awe-struck and accompanied by a sombre nod. "That's cool."

Xaun was unphased. "I talk to you ex-girlfriend every now and then."

"Heh, is she still as crazy as ever?" Jules asked with a laugh. She walked up the three steps on Tails machine. She cut open the cement bags and dumped it in the top of the mixer. Tails hovered nearby holding the hose.

"You bet. She's taken up graffiti art; at least the ghetto looks nicer now." He helped pass more bags up to Jules. A hose from Tails house helped them get the water they needed. Xaun was okay with running a hose that far, instead of electricity.

Knuckles looked at the bag tossed aside and saw warning labels. "What does all this mean? Wait, goggles, face mask, gloves and boots? Is concrete dangerous?"

"Only when it's wet, or breathing the dust," Xaun passed out the face masks, "Technically, it's only dangerous if you don't read the labels first."

"Huh...at least they get the message across without words," he said and tossed the bag aside.

"The industrial site only had one extra pair of boots and they're a little big on me," Sonic said.

"I'll do it," Jules volunteered. With rubber boots to her thighs she spread around the cement with a rake while the guys mixed and poured more.

Xaun counted the remaining bags of cement and saw how much more needed to be filled in. "Oh yeah, I overshot this. It's always better to have too much when you're doing these kind of projects though. We can use what's left to expand your patio over there."

"Sure. I could use a better place to barbecue."

Jules sloshed around the wet cement. "How long does this take to dry? I don't want my feet to get stuck in here."

"Forty-eight hours, you got tons of time. We can build the walls in those two days."

They continued the work. "It may be tiring, but it's actually kind of fun," Tails said.

"Kind of, I guess. I bet it's more fun than what Rouge is doing. I know Shadow's content standing around and brooding, but she has to do all the boring geologist work. Looking at rocks can't be all that fun," Sonic said.

"Also things like checking soil composition, core samples and delta sand," Tails offered.

He yawned. "The description alone is enough to put me to sleep."

Knuckles thought for a moment, "Unless they're actually here to raid old ruins in search of precious chaos powered technology to help build an arsenal to help fight this southern war."

Sonic shot up from his crouched position and pointed an angry finger at Knuckles. "NO! You are not giving away the plot! You did that once already!" He paused. "What makes you say that, anyway?"

Knuckles gave him a dopey smile and said, "...law of averages?"

"Bullshit! My nerves are shot as is, I don't need to be thinking about stuff like that."

"I can't help being insightful, Sonic," he said brattily and made the others laugh.

"Goddammit, Knuckles." Sonic slumped over. "Now I gotta go an see if that's what's happening when we're done here." He stood up, "How do you keep doing that?"

Knuckles shrugged.

"It's like you know how to break the fourth wall or something." Sonic makes eye contact.

"I'm cursed with _awesome_ ," Knuckles put a fist on his hip with pride.

"Or I'm blessed with _suck_ ," Sonic said and brushed the notion away, "I have to stay positive. They're doing a boring job and that's final...I'm still going to spy on them later." He grinned.

Deep within the ruins, Rouge sneezed. "This place is so gross," she said and avoided some strange looking moss with tiny sprigs growing out of it. "I thought old ruins were dusty and dry, not dripping wet and nasty. Ech." Rouge avoided the walls as best she could.

"That's why this ruin was almost a write off. It still may be, if it's too damaged."

Though the temple had seen many years and much neglect, it was still a sight to behold. The green marble walls were expertly crafted, carved full of flowers and lined with gold trim at the top and bottom. A contrasting speckled, light grey, polished tiled floor clicked beneath Rouge's heels. They paused in the crossroads labyrinth. "Bring up the map again. I can't remember the way to the fourth level." Shadow requested.

Rouge displayed the location in hologram form. "To the right," she said and saw the hallway was blocked by a cave in, caused by a mudslide.

Shadow attempted to teleport to the other side but was unable to. "Huh? There's got to be something here. The blockers are working all the way on this level." He leaned down and touched the gold trim. "I can feel electricity moving through this. That must be where it's coming from."

"That's a kick in the ass," Rouge folded her arms and cocked her head to the side. "I'm not digging through mud."

"Then this place is a wash. Come on," he said and turned back.

"There's still more to see around here. Let's do a clean sweep of the rest of the rooms and then we'll go."

"Fine. I'll send grunts in here later, to dig through the mess."

"This one was one of the biggest places too. I had high hopes," she said and flicked through three images of the temple. "Let's go this way, it'll lead us around and back to the staircase." They turned down the left hall and searched the two rooms it had to offer. Avoiding a spike ball and yet another pitfall yielded nothing. They continued on back.

Shadow folded his arms in frustration. "If it's booby-trapped this much, why is there nothing here? None of the traps were tripped; it's safe to assume we're the first..." No sooner had the words passed his lips when a skeleton on a six foot floor spike came into view from an adjacent hall. "...I stand corrected."

"That's rather unpleasant," she said as they carefully navigated over to the deceased. "We came so far, I don't want to leave empty handed." She took a thin gold chain necklace off the carcass and threw it in her bag.

"Hang on. Look at the clothing left over," he said and approached the bones. It wore very few scraps. "These are old clothes, but not ancient. This too." Shadow pointed to a toolbox next to them. "This was probably one of the scientists who worked here fifty years ago. They're also facing the way to go towards the back wall."

Rouge nodded. "They tripped their own trap? Kind of foolish."

He opened the box and found electrical tools. "Possibly a new mechanic who didn't remember where to step." Shadow felt along the wall and hit it with his fist a couple times to test resilience. "This is a dead end though. What were they doing in this area? There's nothing here to be working on." The back wall had a conspicuous split from the ceiling to floor. "Look at this." His fist drummed the wall again. It felt different.

Rouge examined the marble wall. "Is it damaged?"

"This line is far to straight to be a crack." He pressed on the wall and it moved. "Rouge, push on that side." The two pressed the wall inward a few inches. With a snapping sound, the whole wall moved back and slid over mechanically. Stairs were revealed. "This isn't on the map, is it?" he asked.

Rouge double-checked. "You're right. It looks like they added in a few extra secrets of their own."

"We should be extra diligent when searching from now on. We may have missed some things on the way down here."

"It's like a video game. We've got to look for out of place things, to uncover secrets."

"Games are beneath me."

"Not poker," she said.

He chuckled to himself, "Games where I beat everyone and take their money are fine."

They walked into a part of the ruins that was sorely out of place. The metal spiral staircase let them from a marble palace, into a sterile lab setting with sheet metal walls and floors. Suspended ceiling tiles crumbled and wires hung down. "I think this may be it." Shadow pushed on the door at the end of the first hallway. It didn't budge until he laid a heavy foot in its centre. It flew off rusty hinges and hit the floor with a loud clatter.

When the lab sensed movement, everything sprung to life. A generator opened panels on it's sides to reveal blue light. The large circular device spun and hummed. "That's more like it," Rouge said as she lifted off and flew around the lab. She scanned the floors and ceiling. "No traps. It looks like we hit paydirt," she said and eyed the half dozen orbs spinning along the generator's exterior. "Question is, how to stop it."

"I'll see if I can find a schematic."

From outside Sonic and Knuckles could hear strange noises coming from within the temple. Suddenly the entrance lit up. The glass bobbles on the gold lining of the door glowed a faint blue. He looked down to see two recognizable sets of footprints going in, but none leaving. "Dammit, Knuckles," he said and facepalmed.

"What?! They'd be here even if I didn't say anything. At least we can get you some answers now. Maybe they're exploring for fun."

"Shadow doesn't do 'fun'."

"Rouge does."

"Point taken. Let's go," he said and led them into the dark corridor. They lit up their gear to gain visibility. "I think you might be wrong about the 'fun' part." Sonic took hold of the first spikeball trap that had been set off. Dust and cobwebs lay on the backside, but not the front. He looked up and saw some disturbed spiders frantically rebuilding their home within a small nook. "This was tripped recently. Kind of doesn't sound like a fun time to explore in a booby-trapped ruin."

"That depends on who you ask."

"If they're here to rob the place we've got to stop them. These artifacts belong to the island."

"Should we call for backup?"

Sonic shook his head. "I'm the only one who can deal with Shadow." They ventured further in to the mossy structure in search of thieves.

* * *

Heh, confrontation. ^o^


	43. Chapter 43: Major Issues

Hehe, get it? Major? XD  
No? You will soon. ;P

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 43: Major Issues-**_

* * *

Sonic and Knuckles moved through the old ruin. They weren't alone. Along the way, doors had been opened, traps had been activated and any furniture that managed to still be standing was gone through. The footprints went on.

Making it to the third level was much faster for Sonic and Knuckles because they weren't there to rob the place. The stairs that led down to the third level were right next to one another.

"Can you hear that? It sounds like a machine," Knuckles said.

Sonic concentrated, "Barely. It sounds like it's still beneath us. It's hard to imagine electricity ran through this place at any point." The noise suddenly died. "Shadow can teleport out. We gotta hurry. Watch your step," he said and picked up speed.

They came to the same mess of crossroads as the other two did not long before them. "The sound's coming from this way," Knuckles pointed. He led them both to the source of the noise. "Gah!" He was startled at the sight of the skeleton.

"Woah." Sonic looked beyond the lost soul and saw the opened wall. The noise started up again and the hallway lit up to reveal the same juxtaposed modern setting. "Bingo."

They finally made it to the source of the noise. "Sonic, shouldn't we sneak up on them?"

"Do you really think I can sneak up on a bat? She probably already knows we're here." They walked right into the room to confront Shadow and Rouge.

The large device in the centre of the room stood still but the lights remained on. The thieving duo disassembled the generator's glowing bits. "What's up? Find any good minerals lately?" Sonic asked with his two hands palms up, shrugging.

Rouge rolled her eyes. "Are you kidding? Have you seen how much gold is in here?" She flew closer to Shadow and handed him the glowing, beach ball sized device. The globe radiated a bright blue light.

"How did you find us?" Shadow asked.

"Apparently, when you left the beach you made a hell of an exit. Some folks said they saw you heading in this direction and I had an idea of where you might be heading." Sonic said. "Mind if I ask what you're doing here? Trying to find new ways to power Eggman's doomsday devices?"

"We're working. Get lost," Shadow ignored his question and continued to go about his business.

"I know this looks bad, but trust me, we're allowed to be here. Orders from above, you see." Rouge flew up and carefully removed another orb.

"Above who?"

"They're from above the colonel," she said.

"You work for the military?" Sonic asked.

She successfully detached the second ball. "Yes."

"You're a soldier, Shadow?"

"Not just any soldier, he's a Major," Rouge said.

"They don't need to know my rank," Shadow huffed.

"Holy crap, that's impressive," Sonic folded his arms. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Shadow placed the orbs in a metal box and grabbed a communication device from his bag. He spoke into it. "Private Walker."

A moment of pause. " _Yes, Major Shadow, Sir?_ "

He smirked, "At ease. I was checking to see if communication was possible down here."

" _I can hear you loud and clear, Sir._ "

"Excellent. Over and out." He tossed the device back in the bag. "Now I mean it; get lost, before I have you arrested."

"You can do that?" Knuckles asked.

"He's done it before. That's why I'm here," Rouge said. She landed to talk to the two uninvited guests.

"You had Rouge arrested?" Sonic sounded put off.

Shadow folded his arms. "I didn't know who she was beforehand."

Rouge waved the notion away. "Never mind why, but I was looking at five life sentences. Shadow offered to take responsibility for my actions and had me enlist instead of facing jail time."

"I felt if she used her skills for our benefit, it would be better than throwing her in a cell she's likely to break out of."

"The pay is top notch and I get to stay a semi-free woman." She flashed a two-fingered peace sign at them. "I even got promoted a couple times. I'm a Private First Class."

Shadow huffed. "I'm surprised Amy hasn't told you anything. She was part of the counsel who's overseeing our progress."

"Amy's got a lot going on, it's hard to keep up." Sonic and Knuckles shrugged at one another. "I guess we'll see you later."

"Tootles," Rouge waved and began to hover towards the generator again.

He grabbed a nearby steel tote from the floor. "Come on, Knucks, we've got some bones to bury."

"Wait," Rouge quickly said, "Here." She pulled out the chain and handed it to Sonic. "I was going to keep this if we didn't find anything, but maybe you should bury it with them; or see if they have any living relatives."

"Sure," he said and they headed back outside.

Shadow smiled and nodded.

"What?" she said and grabbed onto another device.

"You've changed. I'm impressed."

"No, I haven't. I don't want to be cursed for keeping treasure from here anyway," she said and continued on.

On the outside. "Well ain't that something?" Sonic rested his hands behind his head. "You think you know a guy."

Knuckles looked into the box he carried and shivered. "How high a rank is 'Major'?" he asked.

"It's up there. I think there's only five or six ranks above him. Crazy. I wonder how long he's been in the military."

They headed back to the village with their findings. After identifying the bones as a young human mechanic named Cyril, they had a small burial for them. They mayor spoke briefly about the individual, mentioning he was familiar with the child of the deceased.

Sonic stood next to Amy. He tried to ask her what she knew about what was happening but couldn't bring himself to. ' _If she wanted me to know, she'd have told me,_ ' he thought.

Amy noticed the look on Sonic's face. "It must have been hard to bring them out here."

He looked at the gold necklace in his hand. "It's not that. I've got a lot on my mind about stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" Amy asked with a slight tilt to her head.

Sonic hoped he could prompt her to divulge information about the two tomb raiders. "Shadow and Rouge wouldn't give any reason as to why they were down there. They only said they were 'allowed to be there'."

Amy said nothing.

"...I'm not sure where this island is heading."

She sighed and smiled warmly at her partner, "We're all doing fine," she said with reassurance. "Trust me."

Even with an opportunity to tell him anything, Amy kept quiet about the whole thing.

The next couple of days he spent trying to hint drop to get some more info, but with no luck. The task of building a set of walls for the hut was a decent distraction.

On the day they planned to split the house, Shadow showed up.

"What brings you here?" Sonic asked.

"I need you to come with me," he said and extended a hand for Sonic to take.

"What for?"

Shadow grumbled, "I...need your...help," he said begrudgingly.

Sonic leaned forward a bit and said sternly, "What for?"

With gritted teeth and a clenched fist, "Do you think I'd be here asking for your help if I didn't seriously need it? I can't say why right now. I'll explain along the way," he said and extended his hand again.

Amy approached the budding argument. "Is there a problem?"

Both answered with an opposing 'yes' and 'no'.

"There's no problem if you stop being obstinate," Shadow snapped.

"What are you going to do? Arrest me, Major Shadow," he said cockily, his quills spiked up a little.

He growled and composed himself. With a cleansing breath he said, "Would you please help?"

Sonic huffed, "Fine." He turned to the rest of the group who had paused construction to listen in. "Guys, I have to go do something. I'll be back." He took Shadow's arm and the two vanished.

Tails walked over to and leaned in close to Amy, "I think that not telling him is doing more damage."

Amy rested a hand on her belly, "I figured he had enough on his mind...but I suppose you're right. I'll tell him when he gets back."

* * *

The drama! She runs deep. ^_~


	44. Chapter 44: What I Mean

How about some touching, male bonding...teehee. XD

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 44: What I Mean-**_

* * *

Sonic's equipment lit up while he and Shadow traversed the ruin. They came to a tall, water filled room. The The ceiling could be illuminated, but the bottom of the pool couldn't. "And like that, I'm out," he said and turned to leave.

' _Wait, dumbass!_ ' Shadow thought. Before he left Rouge's side, she told him to be nice to Sonic. If he didn't know how to be nice, she suggested to, 'S _ay something she would say to him instead_ '. Shadow thought and held out a hand. "Hold on a moment. It's only one room that's filled."

He shook his head, "I'm only comfortable with 'bathtub sized' or 'hot tub sized' bodies of water, not 'giant temple sized'. It's probably water that's been sitting there for who knows how long." Sonic folded his arms and cocked his head.

' _Shut up and let's get this over with already._ ' Shadow composed himself. "I found a current when I was in there earlier. I promise, it's not stagnant water."

He came around a bit. "How deep is it?"

' _Enough to drown you in._ ' He pointed at his upgraded shoes. "It's three levels down. I have jets, moving through water is easy for me."

Sonic narrowed his eyes at him. "...would you tell me why Rouge isn't here? Or is she up ahead?"

' _They won't find your body._ ' Shadow became frustrated. He held fast. "She's not here because she's taking a sick day, possibly more."

"I see; sorry to hear that ." Sonic looked over the edge of the pool of water.

' _It's hilarious._ _I could push you in and leave._ ' He fantasized of the flailing. Shadow stepped into the water and activated his jets to hover on it's surface. "The entrance is down three floors. Then there's a hallway and a mechanism before the place we need to resurface. You're going to have to hold your breath a while."

"Alright. Give me a second to prepare." He took a deep breath and let it out again. "Why can't you teleport us there?"

' _If I could teleport, I wouldn't need you!_ ' He sighed. "If I could teleport there, I wouldn't have needed your help. There's a teleportation block on these temples."

"Of course."

"At the end of the hall, there are two latches that open double doors. We need to pull both at the same time."

"Damn ancients and their 'let's work together' attitudes, am I right?" After one final deep breath, Sonic jumped and disappeared beneath the freezing temple water.

Shadow followed. He linked an arm with Sonic and guided them. They quickly moved down the chamber and turned into the hallway with the locked doors. Movement beneath water was slower but they managed to activate the doors in time. The two flowed into the empty room with the water. The liquid gushed in and filled the new area nearly to the top of the door before draining elsewhere. It kept going through other exits in various other corners of the room. Shadow hovered and held Sonic up out of the water.

He gasped for air. "If there's another room like this, can you get someone else to help? Knuckles is good at swimming; ask him."

' _He's thick as a brick, I'm sure he'd sink like one._ ' He thought. "He may be skilled at swimming, but is he good at taking direction?" Shadow brought them to a sandstone statue who's torso was above the water line. They each took a shoulder and waited for the water to reach stasis.

"That depends. Define 'direction', and define 'good'."

"Exactly. Despite getting on my nerves, you're the only one skilled enough to help out down here."

"Skilled? I'm hydrophobic and mostly blind in the dark, I'm sure anyone else on the team would be equally suited for this."

' _None of you compare to Rouge._ ' He laughed. "Not necessarily true. Amy's pregnant, so she's out of the question. I would have asked, Tails or Sticks, but one's got their head in the clouds and the other is impossible to work with. I'll let you decide who's who."

Sonic attempted to distinguish but let it go to save time. "Tails is pretty chill, but Amy and Sticks have very dominant personalities; if either of them agreed to help, I'm sure you wouldn't be the one in charge anymore."

' _I'm aware. I'm sure they call themselves 'Team Sonic' to placate your ego._ ' Shadow huffed. "Which is why I asked you. Besides, there are a lot of places in here that you can only get to a couple of ways: Flying or using a spin dash."

A large portion of water had drained. They hopped down to an ankle-deep current that flowed from the main entrance. A door on the opposite wall, forced open by the water pressure, revealed a large underground maze. Roads laid before them in a dizzying display of spirals and loops. Sonic brightened up. "I take it back. This place is built for me. Let's go!" He jumped and spun down the first ramp.

"Sure, you're interested when you can show off," Shadow said and followed suit.

After a long haul, they finally reached the end of all the twists and turns. The two caught their breath at the end of the lengthy, super-powered speedway. "Gotta admit, this is pretty fun. The only thing it's missing are secret passageways and a big boulder to chase us on the way out. Like in the movies." Sonic rested forward on his knees to breathe better.

Shadow remembered how Rouge described it. "Isn't it more like a 'video game'," he panted.

"I didn't think you'd know games," Sonic laughed, "It'd be a good one too. Engaging gameplay, beautiful graphics and a decent physics engine."

Shadow went to lean against a wall but stumbled through it instead.

"Hit boxes could use a little work." He leaned through the wall to see Shadow getting up. "Clipping is a bitch," Sonic said and passed all the way through the false wall.

Shadow totally rose to his feet.

"You said Rouge ordered these places from smallest to largest? That mimic's the progression of a game's difficulty." He looked up to see two metal doors at the end of the hallway with the false wall. "Did we find any dungeon keys on the way in?"

They approached the doors and with a solid kick from Shadow, the door went flying. "I have the master key."

"Sequence hacking, nice! If you need me to come along on any more of these, I'll go, just no more water levels."

' _I've never met someone so flippant._ ' Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose. "Nerd."

"Hey, at least I'm cool about it," he laughed.

 _'No._ ' He thought. "That's debatable," Shadow said as they entered the lab.

The room was big, dark and mostly empty. Sonic lit everything up with his gear on a brighter setting. "It looks like they cleaned this place out when they left." Evidence suggested they grabbed what they could and rushed out.

"They probably tried to get out before the water could damage their equipment. This place is full of leaks." Shadow gave a frustrated sigh. "We still need to check everything leftover."

"No prob," Sonic said and began opening filing cabinets and checking bookcases. Only a few books and some disturbing papers lay behind. Lab reports spoke of a violent reaction to experimentation using chaos technology. "Shadow, can you tell me what this is all for? If I'm helping, the very least you could do is tell me," Sonic folded his arms and held a worried expression. As good of a distraction as the rest of the day was, the photo's of patients tied down quickly brought Sonic a nasty dose of reality.

"It's nothing you-" he began.

"Please!" he asked sternly. He silenced Shadow and handed him the papers to review. "...please tell me. Every time I try to ask Amy, she tries to change the subject. I think she's holding things back because she's worried about stressing me out. Not that I mind helping Knuckles building project, but it seems to be her new way to avoid talking about things."

Shadow folded his arms and mimicked Sonic's expression. "Honestly, this has nothing to do with us." He gave the papers back. "I'm only worried about telling you something confidential. If it's any consolation, you're island is doing fine."

"It's not. Not knowing is stressing me out even more than knowing everything."

"Fair enough." Shadow said and gathered his thoughts. "This island is going to be changing soon, but I can guarantee it'll be for the better. Eggman's begun to drill for oil to sell so we can send funding overseas. If the city found out we'd have to split the revenue and we want to be sending as much as we can to our troops."

"Why wouldn't the city want to help?"

Shadow shook his head. "It's not that they don't want to help. Sending funding shows the island isn't impartial. Your infrastructure can't handle being raided by opposing forces. The only ones to know about this are the royal family, Eggman and his two lackeys, myself and Rouge, Amy, and now you."

"Why wouldn't she want to tell me that?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure."

Sonic thought about it. The information Shadow gave him didn't change anything. "Maybe she didn't tell me because there's no need to tell me."

Shadow nodded. "I'm pretty sure that's what I tried to stay from the start. Regardless, you're in the know now; keep it to yourself. Let's finish up and get out of here."

Sonic smiled. "Thanks, Shadow."

"Yeah, yeah. Get to work," he said and went to search the lab.

Time passed and both Sonic and Shadow had reached the second level that still had book shelves. Sonic pulled out books and gave them a quick gloss over. He took a little more time to peer through a book about experimenting on living beings. He flipped to a page that had colored photos stuffed inside. He held one up and noticed the individual in the photo looked a lot like Shadow. "Hey, is this guy familiar?"

Shadow looked at the photograph. "Must be a clone. I was created on a space station and didn't reach Earth until about twelve years ago."

"You say that so casually. Being or having clones doesn't bother you?" Sonic asked. He made a digital copy of the photos with his wrist communicator.

"No. I'm my own person-uh, what are you doing?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh I'm-" he went to give an excuse but was distracted. He looked past Shadow and saw that the lab floor was moving. "Dude, this place is flooding."

Shadow looked over the railing and saw the water had followed them. "Where is that coming from?" As Shadow uttered the words, his question was answered. Water busted in through vents and poured through the ceiling.

"Damn commedic timing!" Sonic frantically took more photo's of photos.

"We need to get out."

Sonic did his best to get many pictures of the brutal experiments carried out within the walls of the sleepy tomb.

"We don't have time for this!" He grabbed Sonic's shoulder and tried to get him to stand.

"Hang on." He laid the photo's out on the floor and took a picture of them all. "Not the best quality, but it'll have to do!"

"Come on!" He and Sonic fled the lab and back to the main foyer to find that it to was beginning to fill quickly with water. They waded in the knee high water.

"How do we get back up?" Sonic saw the platform they could have used to get out was currently occupied by a waterfall.

Shadow pulled out the map hologram to see if there was any other way to go. "There's a way out this way!" he said and used his jets to bring them both across a deepening pool of water.

The two ran down another hall. Water splashed with every footfall. Slots near the ceiling allowed for water to freely flow into the hall. "This place is suppose to flood!" Shadow said as the water flawlessly filled the hallway.

"Are you sure this is the way out?" Sonic couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"There's a single wall we can break. Rouge hates it when I break these places, but we're kind of out of options." They kept running.

"What's that?" In their travels something caught Sonic's eye. He took off at top speed in the opposite direction and into an opened room.

"We don't have time for this!"

He bolted back out with a large cylinder full of a familiar blue chaos energy. "This trip wasn't for nothing. Grab on!" He grabbed Shadow as he rushed by. Water was raging down the hall faster than before. More liquid rushed from the ceiling with the enthusiasm of a fire hose. "Use your jets to give us a boost and I'll throw you through the wall!" When they reached the end, Shadow lifted both feet and powered on his jets. Sonic used all his strength and speed to throw Shadow as a spinning ball and broke the wall. They, the water and the rescued cylinder all busted through the temple wall at roughly the same time. Blackness overtook the spelunkers as the jungle was irrigated with a sudden burst from the aging derelict.

Shadow was the first to come around. He stood up and shook his quills as dry as he could. "Where did you go?" He asked as he staggered and turned to look for Sonic. He saw the blue blur lying still a short distance away. "Hey!" he said and went over to him. He was motionless. "...get up." Shadow knelt down and shook him. He continued to lay still. Shadow leaned close and couldn't hear him breathing. "No, no, no. You're not dying here. Get up," he said and shook him some more. Shadow noticed Sonic was bleeding from his side and arm. He listened to his rival's heart. It was shallow. "..." He had to preform CPR. "You better not be faking this," he said and began to deliver the first of several rescue breaths.

Sonic came around during the second session of chest compressions. He coughed and hacked as he was rolled on to his side. "Did we die?" he asked an a daze.

"Almost. I need to teleport us to the hospital."

"I'm fine, give me a second," he said and attempted to sit up. He was thwarted by pain.

"That cylinder busted. There's a piece in your back and your arm."

Sonic looked down to see a thick shard of tempered glass sticking in his forearm. He went pale. "...I can't feel it."

"You may still be reeling from the adrenaline, or you have a concussion. Either way, we need to get you looked at before you _do_ start feeling it. Let me help you up," he said and got Sonic to his feet.

Sonic reached around his back and felt a very large piece of glass prodding him in the ribs. He took a deep breath in and it hurt a decent bit. "I think I punctured a lung."

"Then do your best to hold your breath while I teleport us. It'll collapse if you don't," he said and got a glare from Sonic. "What? I'm not kidding. Nod when you're ready."

Sonic painfully tried to take a single breath several times before he got one he could hold. The two vanished and left behind a mess of mud, blood and a disappointed sense of empty-handedness.

* * *

Aww, he cares. ^x^


	45. Chapter 45: Patched Up

To save googling time.

FYI: **Legionnaires** ' **disease** , also known as legionellosis, is a form of atypical pneumonia caused by any type of **Legionella** bacteria.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 45: Patched Up-**_

* * *

Sonic laid on his stomach while two doctors stitched his forearm and back.

"You're sure you don't want to contact Amy?" Shadow asked.

Sonic groaned. "I'll tell her when I get home; I wanna lay on the guilt when we aren't in public. I know you told me what's going down, but I want to hear it from her."

"That's petty."

"I'm aware."

"She'll be mad," Shadow said with a huff.

"I'm aware."

"You're an asshole."

Sonic chuckled. "I learned it from watching you."

"Childish." Shadow threw his hands up briefly in frustration and turned to leave. "I'm going to go see how Rouge is doing."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is she here?" He got a nod. "When you said 'sick' I thought you meant a cold or food poisoning or something."

Shadow shrugged as he reached the door. "Unlike the last place, we ran into a situation where stagnant water was present. She's come in contact with legionella bacteria and has pneumonia. We had to wait for antibiotics to be delivered this morning."

"Geez, is she alright," he asked with concern.

"I'll let you know." Shadow left the room. He went down the hall and up a flight of stairs to visit Rouge in the intensive care unit. He checked with the nurse station and was allowed into her room. She slept soundly. "Damn." It was difficult to see her with a tube in her nose and two IV's in her hands.

Rouge opened her eyes slowly and saw him standing there. "Hey," she weakly said with a scratchy voice.

He laughed lightly, "Your ears are too sharp." He walked in the room and to her side. "How do you feel now?"

"Not great, but much better." She held up both hands. "One of them is the medicine and the other is there to rehydrate me."

"No wonder; you lost a lot of fluids."

She shut her eyes again. "Sorry for frightening you so badly. I really couldn't respond last night. I tried. I've never had anything hit me this hard before."

Shadow shook his head. "I understand. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I owe Eggman for helping."

 _"Shadow, sir?" Orbot woke Shadow up. "I believe Rouge may need some assistance." He led Shadow to the bathroom Rouge was in._

 _"Rouge," Shadow asked as he knocked. Silence._

 _"She awoke in the middle of the night and complained of a headache and stomach pains. I gave her some over the counter medication, but it doesn't seem to have had an effect. She's been in there for an hour now," he said with worry._

 _Shadow knocked louder. "Are you alright?" He got no response but the sound of retching. His heart palpitated. "...Rouge...say something." He got the same response. His heart pounded and his hands shook when he attempted to reach for the handle. "Where's Eggman?"_ _Orbot led him to the Doctor's room. He knocked loudly. "Get up!"_

 _The door opened and Eggman stood there in his jammies. "I_ _was having the best dream about my theme park. What's wrong," he said as he yawned and rubbed sleep from his eyes._

 _"I need your help. Rouge is sick."_

 _Eggman followed and attempted to enter the bathroom. The door clicked open. "This isn't even locked," he said and turned to see Shadow up against the wall._

 _"I can't help her," he said with a shaky voice._

 _The doctor approached Rouge huddled around the toilet bowl. "Rouge, dear, can you hear me," he asked and received the same response as Shadow, this time coupled with a head nod. Eggman felt her shoulders. "You've got a fever." He lifted Rouge in his arms and grabbed a nearby trash pail and handed it to her. "Let's go to the lab and diagnosis her first. The hospital isn't nearly as equipped as I am."_

 _With shaky legs Shadow followed behind the two._

Rouge smiled from her hospital bed. "I'll get him a gift basket," she said with a light laugh. "How did the exploration go?"

He broke eye contact to stare off in a random direction that wasn't Rouge.

"...that good, huh?"

Shadow looked back to her. "We got along fine."

"That's good."

"Unfortunately, the temple was rigged to flood."

"That's bad."

"Luckily we found a way out on the lower level."

"That's good."

"I had to break through a wall to get out though."

"That's bad."

"On the way out, Sonic found a single chaos component."

"That's good."

"And then he broke it."

"That's bad."

"Then the shards stabbed him in the arm and back. We're here getting him stitched up."

"That's good-no, wait, that's bad. Sorry, we had a rhythm going. They gave me morphine, I'm feeling pretty loopy," she said and chuckled.

He smiled. "I'm glad you're doing better, at least. Though, it looks like our mission is on hiatus until you're on your feet again. They'll probably reassign someone here."

Rouge shook her head. "You still have a few Team Sonic members to use. Amy's not any option but why not Big Red?"

"Too dumb."

"Fox boy?"

"Space case."

"Badger babe?"

"Hasn't had all her shots."

"What about the new girl, Big Red's lady friend, Julie-Su?"

"Hmm," Shadow paused in thought for a moment. "I didn't think she was part of the team."

Rouge shook her head. "She's not an official member yet. When I was hanging out with the girls the other night, Amy said she was speaking to Sonic about asking her to join. He's on board but wants to wait until she's a bit more familiar with the group dynamic before recruiting her."

"Is she capable though?" he asked.

Rouge nodded. "The good doctor said she plowed through his robots as if they were nothing."

"His robots are lackluster at best."

Rouge held up five fingers. "Four in a row and the big six armed one were flattened in a matter of minutes."

Shadow mentally retracted his opinion of Julie-Su. "That is impressive." He thought again. "Is she quick to think and react?"

She shrugged. "Probably. She does think you're magic though, so that's a thing."

He raised an eyebrow. "What are you on about?"

"She's one of the mainland folk who doesn't know technology very well. She thought teleporting was magic."

He gave a single 'ha' out loud. "Alright. I'll run it by Sonic and see if I can take her with me while you two rest up."

"You?!" Rouge widened her eyes. " _You_ are going to _ask_ Sonic? As in, a request, unprompted from anyone?"

Shadow huffed, "Yes."

"I had to twist your arm before; now you're all buddy-buddy? Who's the one who's changed?" She referenced him making a crack at her returning the gold necklace she found.

He chuckled, "It's still you."

"Nope," she said and opened the bag on her side table. "Look at all the supplies I have."

Shadow picked up the bag, "We can't afford to have you kicked out."

"Hey, I got those fair and square," she said and attempted to get out of bed to retrieve her stolen medical supplies.

He put a hand on her shoulder and laid her back down. "No you didn't," he said. He looked at the machine next to her and pushed a button to release more morphine. "Take a nap," he said and saw the timer for the next dose start up again.

"You...y-you...yoouu..." she said, each 'you' got slower and quieter. "Ya'bitch," she said playfully.

He laughed. "You have pneumonia. Stay in bed."

"K-kay," she said with a dazed voice. "I'll'steal'it'all'gain'later," she slurred and dozed off.

"I don't doubt that." Shadow tucked her in and left her to nap after he put the supplies back on the shelf. He went down to check Sonic's progress. He was led back into the room with his rival. His arm was fully stitched and bandaged. His back was nearly finished. "She's feeling better," he said.

"That's a relief. Aren't you afraid of catching what she has?" he asked.

Shadow shook his head. "It's not contagious, for one. For another, I'm immune to most terrestrial bacteria." He hesitated but impatiently spoke up anyway. "I need to continue exploring."

"You're going to have to give me a few days to heal up first," Sonic said.

He shook his head, "I can't wait. This mission is important. If I'm unable to continue, I get replaced by a whole crew. I can't say 'why' right here, but you should know that doing so wouldn't be a good idea. I need another one of your team members to come with me."

"You need to ask them. I might be the leader, but this kind of decision is a 'by person' basis. If it's not to protect the island, they may not feel as inclined to help."

"It is though."

Sonic made eye contact, "Then tell them that."

"You know I can't give details. Besides, the one I want to ask is Julie-Su. She's not on your team at the moment. I can't recruit civilians. Rouge mentioned you were thinking of asking her to join."

"I was. She's a big bruiser like Knuckles. Not as strong, but she's got speed on her side. Two tanks on our team would be beneficial."

"Can you make it official? The sooner I head out, the better."

Sonic's biggest wound was successfully stitched and he was guided to his feet by two nurses for bandaging. "I need to talk to Amy first. We have paperwork for these kinds of things. Also, this is assuming she's willing to join. She was hesitant to fight again, for whatever reason," he said while the two healthcare workers patched his wound and wrapped him in a bandage to hold it in place. He was given instructions on how to care for his wound before leaving. Shadow pushed him along in a wheelchair to the front door. Sonic stood with some assistance.

Shadow winced with guilt as he witnessed Sonic struggle to stand. "Do you want to walk or teleport?"

Sonic held out his uninjured arm, "The lung puncture wasn't big; let's break reality." In a blink Sonic was at his front door. He opened it and saw he was the only one home. "They must still be at Knuckles place. I'll message Amy to come home." He looked down at his bloodied sports tape and footwear. "I should change and get my shoes washed first." He began removing all his tape.

"Do you need help?" Shadow asked with uncertainty.

Sonic was surprised. "Yeah, actually. Can you help me get my shoes off? I can't bend." Shadow leaned down and assisted him. "You know, it's weird that you're being nice to me. First time for everything," he said jokingly.

"I suppose giving you CPR wasn't nice then?"

Sonic was shocked. "Wait-who-what? When?"

Shadow tossed his rival's footwear into the laundry pile. "You're welcome," he said nonchalantly.

He blushed and humbly said, "Thank you."

"Do you have a spare set of shoes?" Shadow asked.

Sonic snickered. "Nah, I'll just borrow Amy's sandals."

He looked down. "The ones with the flower on them?"

"I'm confident," Sonic said and was handed the cork shoes with the sunflower in the middle.

"To each his own."

Sonic chuckled. "Or I could go in the buff. It seems to be a trend now." Sonic texted Amy on his device.

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Great. The one time I relax and I never hear the end of it," he said and folded his arms.

"I'm not mocking you, dude; you guys started a trend."

"What?"

"You two were asleep there for a while and folks from out of town assumed it was a nude beach. They even set up a sign to mark the stretch of beach as a 'clothing prohibited' section." Sonic lowered his arm when he got a response.

His cheeks turned a little red, "You're kidding."

Sonic shook his head slowly. "Not. Even. A little," he said with intentional inflection.

Shadow was rendered speechless.

"Seeing is believing. I'll drop you a line when I hear from Jules."

Shadow awkwardly stood there to process the news for a moment and was gone an instant later.

Sonic took off his bandanna and waited for Amy. "...I hope she's the only one who shows up."

"Hello," Amy said as she walked in the front door a few minutes later. She immediately saw the bloody shoes and socks in the laundry bin. "What in the world happened?" She walked quickly around the couch to see her partner bandaged and scruffled from his outing. "My goodness, are you alright?!" she asked and quickly sat next to him.

"For the most part. I have a punctured lung and two lacerations; nothing fifty odd stitches and a bit of morphine won't fix."

Amy's eyes welled up with tears. "I had no clue it was going to be so dangerous. I'm sorry, Sonic." She laid a sympathetic hand on his knee.

"The temple began to flood and Shadow had to bust us out through a wall. I only got hurt because I was carrying some blue chaos bobble. The glass smashed in my arms."

Amy dried her face. "Those things are for-"

"-Shadow told me what it's for. Why didn't I hear it from you first?"

She paused and gathered her thoughts. "I'm sorry. There was no point in telling you about the project. I know it's underhanded, but if it gets us on good terms with the royal family, it'll only be beneficial in the future. The amount we pull in from tourism is more than enough to get us by and help us grow. Selling oil would be a huge economic boom for us, yes, but that amount of growth in such a short amount of time would be too dangerous."

"How?" he asked with skepticism.

"We're monitoring who moves to the island. We don't need any unsavory folks using us as their base of operations. The slower the emigration, the easier it is to spot potential spies."

"I wish you would have told me this long ago. I've been going around in circles trying to figure out who's on who's side."

She held up a finger. "Duchad is in a fake alliance with Eggman. There, something I didn't need to tell you, right there, out in the open."

"Duchad? He's that guy Buck mentioned long ago." Sonic tried to remember the conversation. Buck's words were 'That fucking Duchad, binturong, cunt,' but he dare not repeat it in front of Amy.

"He's the current president of the country of Gia'kum and lives in Loa River City, the same as Jami and her crew."

Sonic nodded.

"Eggman's in good with him and we're getting a lot of intel because of it. He's on our side, and has been since this war broke out four years ago."

"And here I thought he was just getting too old to bother anymore. I'd say I'm relieved, but I'm not. It's a mixed bag of how I feel."

Amy hesitated.

"What else?"

Amy hesitated more and those same tears of guilt crept up on her.

Sonic turned to face her more. "Amy...tell me."

Tears fell down her face and hit her new dress. "I'm sorry. We're in this deeper than I'm letting on. I'll tell you everything I'm allowed to."

Sonic's heart sped up. "What do you mean?"

Amy reached up and touched her left iris twice. Her eye went dark and then lit up a light pink with a small, red, pixel rose in the centre. "I have a lot to tell you."

* * *

Muhaha. ;D


	46. Chapter 46: Perspective - Part 1

O_(x)

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 46: Perspective -Part 1-**_

* * *

Amy removed the pink makeup from her eyelids and sat back down. "It's still my eye, except for the iris and the thin layer of LED screen that holds it in place." She held her eyes open for her partner to examine. She looked around to give him different angles. "The glass iris is a mirrored, rotated, copy of my right eye. It's extremely sensitive and functions as sight; I've gotten used to the two toned vision long ago. I can use it as a camera too and it's connected to my communicator as well; it's actually pretty handy."

Since Amy was so lax about it, Sonic was calmly ably to examine her eyes. He looked from Amy's left eye and back to the right several times. He could vaguely see the edge of the clear screen around the outer boundaries of her sclera. A repeating pattern in her eye colour and a small scar on her upper eyelid were also noticeable upon a close inspection. He finally spoke. "I can barely tell the difference. What happened? And when?" With no idea how to feel, his mood was blank.

"Three years ago; shortly after the war broke out in the southwest. A team of five of us were on site at a dig on the mainland. A group of soldiers from a radical faction stumbled upon us." She recounted the day for him.

 _Amy watched three workers move buckets of dirt from the opening of a brown, stone brick palace. She dragged a tired dirty arm across her forehead. The sun had bleached her fur a lighter pink in the past few months and d_ _irt showed up easier._ _Luckily that day, the cusp of the_ _jungle canopy offered a decent amount of shade from the midday sun._ _She looked down at the backs and palms of her filthy gloves. "I can't wait to get a shower and soak in a tub." She tightened the ponytail of her lengthening hair._

 _"How can you think of a bath right now? Aren't you swimming as is?" Charlie fanned his sweat covered face with a wide brimmed hat._

 _She chuckled, "Cold shower first, then a hot bath. I'll need to alternate cold and heat for my aching muscles." She rubbed her right shoulder with the opposite hand._

 _He cracked his own neck. "I won't argue with you there."_ _He hopped into his mech suit and picked up the large statue they had unearthed._ _He reserved use of the suit for moving all the heavy pieces of debris and did the rest by hand._ _An odd noise whirred within his suit. "My suit's been acting up on me lately. I hope we find a better power source. This one is on it's last legs." He tapped his console and noted the dimness of the control panel._

 _"Don't worry. I have a good feeling about this place. The records say there's a storehouse under this mudslide." The humidity from the forest mixed with the arid heat of the nearby landscape made for dangerous conditions during periods of heavy rain. The brittle landscape was nearly wiped away by the near flood-like rain that swept past during the wet season the previous year. The temple beneath it was nearly lost to the mess in the process._

 _"I hope so."_

 _A flash bang went off a short distance behind them. Amy staggered and_ _stumbled_ _forward. She narrowly missed Charlie's suit crushing her as he fell. The others ducked down._

 _"Is everyone okay?!" Charlie tried to get to his feet but the suit had finally died. He crawled out to help Amy stand. He got a few conformations from the rest of the crew._

 _"I'm okay. Who's there?" she said._ _They heard nearly a dozen footfalls had closed in around them. "No one try to fight! Do what they say," Amy put her hands on her head and knelt down. Charlie and the others followed her lead._

 _A man holding a gun tipped with a rusted bayonet yelled at her in a different language._

 _She spoke calmly and_ _carefully._ _"Take what supplies you need. We're archaeologists. We're only here to study the land and monuments." Her line_ _was carefully rehearsed in their tongue._

 _He proceeded to yell and came closer to her face with the tip of his pointed gun._

 _Wide eyed with terror, she shook her head. "I know few of your words. Please allow me to get my translation dictionary," she recited another rehearsed line._

 _He yelled again. The only word Amy made out was 'liar'. She received a boot and toppled into a table of found artifacts._

 _The man shouted and numerous soldiers began to ransack the camp. They packed up all the supplies and the research papers from the main tent. "Please, not that!" Amy stood and yelled. A couple of grunts rounded up her and the other scientists. "That's months of work!" She was rifle butted into submission. She held the sore spot on her stomach and took a knee._

 _"I thought you said not to fight back," Charlie said all their arms were bound together by masked soldiers._

 _"It's so much time gone to waste though; I never got a chance to make any backup copies." Amy thought about her hammer. She counted the number of bullets she'd need to avoid. 'Not with automatic assault rifles. I could get away but everyone else would be at risk.' She left her unopened hammer on the side of her head; it functioned as a small, circular, pink and white hair accessory when away. She hoped they wouldn't take it from her._

 _Amy managed to understand another line from the man who appeared to be in charge. 'Take them to the camp.' He placed his rusty rifle on his back._

 _"This isn't good," she said with worry as her arms we also tied._

 _"What did he say?" Charlie asked._

 _"We're prisoners," she said and was guided to a truck._

 _They were blindfolded and taken to the POW camp at a location deep in the jungle. All their equipment was taken and each crew member was tossed in a cell made of bamboo and barbed wire._

 _"Who are these guys?" One of the workers asked as he examined the shoddy work used on the cage._

 _Amy kicked at the dirt around her feet as she rearranged her 'harmless' clip. "I'm not sure. I know they're part of the enforcers Duchad likes to keep around. I saw their flag on the way in. I didn't recognize the emblem though. I know the enforcers put their country's flag in the corner and their faction is the emblem in the middle."_

 _"What was it? I may know it," Charlie asked._

 _"It was a snake body with a lion's head. I've never heard of it before. Maybe they're new."_

 _Charlie shook his head. "Possibly. I have no clue who they are either."_

 _"Whoever they are, that flag backed in blue means they're tied to the church."_

 _"Nothing's scarier than radicals with a holy calling," Charlie said._

 _Amy nodded. "We're probably being ransomed. Hopefully they'll let us go with our work intact."_

 _Two soldiers had a conversation amongst themselves as they approached Amy's cage. "Girl, how old," the first asked and chuckled with his comrade._

 _Dread washed over her. "Nineteen," she said._

 _They got excited. The first one asked another question with a single word, "Virgin?"_

 _Amy's heart sunk. She had no clue how to answer and had to think quickly. 'Since they're with they church, violating a virgin may be against their rules. Or are they looking to sell me?' She rolled the die and nodded. "Yes," Amy lied with confidence._

 _The second guy laughed and gave the first guy a shove in the shoulder. The word 'fuck' was heard by all. They walked off again._

 _"That was too close," Charlie said with a sigh of relief._

 _"At least the rest of you are safe," Amy said to her four male crew members._

 _When it was quiet, save for the snoring guard at the door, Amy sat up and got to work. She examined the rusty old lock. With a plucked quill she began to pick the lock of her cell. She successfully popped the lock and hurried across the hall to Charlie. She placed a hand over his mouth and woke up him. "Shh, we're leaving."_

 _He nodded and was granted speech again. "All of us?"_

 _She shook her head. "We'll be spotted for sure if we all go. We get out, we send help."_ _Amy freed Charlie. The two headed out the back window without waking the others. The backside of the building was pitch black. Vague shapes illuminated by the moon and the brightly lit ends of the alley were the only things visible._

 _"Yes, Sir...No, Sir," a soldier's English speaking voice could be heard through a passing window._

 _Amy pointed up. She and Charlie stuck around to see if any more information was available._

 _"Correct...I'll get my men to take care of them," he said and hung up. His next two words were in his own tongue._

 _His order made Amy gasp. Tears formed in her eyes. "We need to leave. Now. Hurry." They moved swiftly._

 _"What did he say?" Charlie's question was answered by the sound of three gunshots, coupled with a short scream of terror. Then silence._

 _"'Kill them'," Amy said as she pulled him along. "They're going to be looking for us. We need to make some distance."_

 _"Stop!" A guard yelled from the window behind them and began taking warning shots._

 _They dodged the bullets._ _Amy led them between two buildings. "That's a great way to stop someone from running from you!" she said sarcastically. They made it to the road. She saw the entrance to the camp on the far side of the complex. They ducked in behind some barrels and waited for the soldier chasing them to pass by._

 _When he was long gone, Charlie spoke up. "I don't see any way to get to the exit." The guards were right in front of the door talking. He followed Amy as they carefully snuck around in the dark. They crossed a road and hid in some unruly brush._

 _"We should go through the garage over there," she said and pointed to the building that sat along the fence. A road and darkened tole booth were attached to the side of a garage. "If we go through there we can bypass the fence, which is most likely electrified. If it's not, then this place is bound to be surrounded by mines or snipers."_

 _"Alright, let's go," he said with a clenched fist._

 _"Charlie," she said before they moved._

 _"What is it?"_

 _Amy hesitated. "We may die."_

 _"I'm painfully aware."_

 _"Okay." They moved in the shadows and edged closer to the goal building. Amy watched a few soldiers running around. They spread news of the escaped prisoners. "They aren't well equipped here. They use a wire line, no cameras, no communicators and I don't see many cars parked around. Who are these people? If they're enforcers, why aren't they getting funding?_ _I guess even a fascist government doesn't like extremist groups."_

 _Charlie rolled his eyes. "The fascist government doesn't like a fascist group? Seems a little hypocritical."_

 _Amy nodded._ _"Regardless, that explains why they attacked us. They're probably short on supplies._ _It also explains why they wanted us dead. You don't have to feed a dead prisoner; you also don't have to worry about anyone coming to save them."_

 _"I'm exceptionally glad you didn't say cannibalism." Amy gave him a stare. "...don't say cannibalism."_

 _"I'm not_ 'not' saying it. I don't know how hungry these guys are."

 _"They're thirsty, I wouldn't doubt they're hungry too."_

 _Amy grimaced. "I'm not the only one who needs a cold shower apparently."_

 _She and Charlie successfully reached the garage. Amy jimmied a window open with another quill. They crawled inside. The strong smell of cigar smoke and chemicals filled the air. The majority of the dimply lit garage was filled with junk and other derelict vehicles. Navigating around the mess was relatively easy; someone had carefully placed everything so that a singly path weaved through the garbage. Amy was briefly reminded of Sticks hoarding habits. She bit back the nostalgic tears and focused on living._

 _The man with the cigar came into view. Cigar in mouth. A half empty bottle of whiskey sat on the table next to him. He looked over papers and flipped through them quickly. It was the person who held her at gunpoint. The person who gave the 'kill them' order. The same rusted bayonet tipped gun lay at his side. Amy waved silently to Charlie and caught his attention. She pointed one finger at the guy, then a thumb to her hammer clip and proceeded to make a swinging motion. Charlie responded with a head shake. Amy responded by silently expanding her hammer and nodded, with a cross look on her face. Charlie briefly took a moment to pray to a god he was unsure of, then mouthed the words 'good luck'._

 _Amy moved like the wind. She struck the man in the back of the head and sent him to the ground. She gasped with awe. "Our work! Our stuff!" she said with a whisper yell._

 _Charlie approached while crouched down. "All of it?"_

 _Amy put her communicator back on. "I'm not sure," she said and piled what she could into a nearby bag. "I don't think there's anyone else in here; everyone's looking for us outside._ _See if you can find wheels for us to use._ _" She heard people run past the back of the building. Amy stopped what she was doing and smashed the unconscious soldier in the knee, effectively injuring it. "You won't be running after us any time soon." She then propped him up at the table and stuck the whiskey bottle in his hand. It tipped and spilled some. Amy shrugged. "That works." She finished off the table by spreading around some of their own papers to look like sloppy work. "Presentation is everything." She pat the guy on the head and sashayed off to find Charlie._

 _He had successfully found a motorcycle with a seat attached at the side on it's own wheel. "This looks like it's been used recently," he said as he tried to hot wire the vehicle._

 _Amy went through the nearby table and found keys. "Let's see if it uses any of these." She and Charlie worked together to get the device running. Charlie was the first with success. The little bike fired up with a bright light on the front and a gentle hum. Amy jumped in front of the light to shield it. Charlie quickly shut the bulb off. They stood in the dark in relative silence. "I don't think anyone saw." Amy looked at the keys in her hand. She let out a 'ha' as she put them in her bag._

 _"I'm surprised no one's come to talk to their leader."_

 _"He came here to drink alone. I guess giving an order like that isn't easy, even for these guys." Amy grabbed two helmets off the table._

 _Charlie looked for a way to open the garage door that led to the outside of the camp. He found one that was operated by hand crank._

 _Amy handed him a helmet. "Let me oil that first." She went back and grabbed an oilcan she saw in passing. With the gears high and low doused in a healthy coat of slickness, the gears effortlessly turned as if they were new. Amy peered into the darkness and saw no soldiers looking for them on the outside._ _"Ready?"_

 _Charlie nodded. "Let's push this out as far as we can."_

 _The two manually led the rig outside and lowered the door behind them. "Do you want me to drive?" She got a nod. "We're gone," she said. They hopped in and puttered off until they were out of earshot, then picked up speed._

 _Quite a distance away from the camp, a group of soldiers spotted them as they sped by. A chase ensued._

* * *

Excitement! XD


	47. Chapter 47: Perspective - Part 2

I got to writing this bit and realized how long it was getting. I had to break it up some. ^^

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 47: Perspective - Part 2-**_

* * *

 _With a roar, the car peeled out of it's nook and gave chase._

 _"What the hell?!" Charlie held on to the bagged papers and the bike seat as Amy reached top speed._

 _"They must be out looking for more people to shake down. They'd be easier to spot in the dark because of campfires."_

 _"I'd like to admire their creativity, but I'm understandably unimpressed with these people at the moment," he said and winced at the pain of hitting so many bumps on the janky jungle dirt road. "Why are they chasing us?"_

 _"I think they're chasing anything that's running from them. We can lose them in the trees." She looked over the tops of the trees and saw a light on the hill in the distance. "I think I know where we are. That hill over there is where the helicopter dropped us. If we can make it there,_ _our_ _military can help us."_

 _"Against my better judgment, I say, let's do it!" Charlie tightened his seat belt and hunkered down. Amy turned sharply into the trees and lost the car behind them instantly. Branches whipped past her face and arms. She was cut up quite a bit but squinted and held fast. Yet another motor was heard behind them. A gunshot went off. Amy lowered her head and minimized the surface area they were shooting at._

 _She made it back to another jungle path and turned onto it. A soldier on a motorcycle was close behind. She could hear him yelling to stop. She ignored the demand and continued at full speed._

 _When they made it to a small clearing, Amy saw her way out. There was a large bridge over a river at the bottom of a steep slope to her right. Water gushed rapidly beneath it._ _It was still several metres ahead of them_ _. "I have an idea. Are you okay gambling with your life again?"_

 _Charlie nodded. "I've made peace with my mortality."_

 _She made another sharp turn and went down the slope to the river. The guy hot on their trail followed but lost balance and tumbled down the side. He landed in the rushing water and was swept downstream. Amy leaned against the turn and stayed on the slope as long as she could. They were descending too fast. "We're going to miss the bridge." When the bridge was close enough, Amy threw out her electricity line in an attempt to stop. The bike skidded sideways beneath the bridge and rolled over several times. It stopped on the edge of the shore. The two riders were tangled up in the wreck._

 _Charlie was unhitched from the bike at the last moment and sustained less damage. He undid his belt and moved as fast as his aching body would take him. "Amy?!" He could see her hunched over. He rushed to her side. What met him was a stomach turning sight._

 _The left side of Amy's face was streaked with blood. Another clear liquid accompanied it. Intraocular fluid leaked from a gash in her eye created by a bit of motorcycle shrapnel. "Amy, don't move." Charlie tried to steady her._

 _Her hands shook violently as she reached up to touch her face. The motorcycle shard had lodged itself deep within her left eye. Her finger traced a pointed tip. The mere act of touching it sent immense amounts of pain through her head. She tried not to cry, but the tears flowed anyway. Her gloves were stained red from touching her face. "There's so much blood." She began to panic. "Do I take it out?"_

 _"I think so." He went over to what was left of the bike. "There's a first aid kit in the back here. We can take it out and patch you up_ _at least_ _." His hand landed on a clear, unopened bottle. "There's some saline in here to wash it out some."_

 _Amy grabbed the piece of metal. It was longer than it was wide. "I'm just glad my eye was opened when this happened." She held the bit in her fingers. "...I can't. Charlie...I'll hold the piece...can you pull on my hand?" Amy did her best to keep her cool._

 _He swallowed a lump in his throat. "I can do that." He took hold of her wrist and gave a gentle tug. Amy screamed. "Do it quickly?"_

 _"YES!" Amy's grip tightened around the finger-length shard._

 _Charlie quickly pulled her hand back and dislodged the jagged metal. Amy's cries of pain were hard to hear. He covered his eyes with his hands. "I'm sorry."_

 _She gasped and panted. "I'm going to be sick," she said and leaned down._

 _"Go ahead," he said and held her hair back. Her elastic was lost to the jungle._

 _Amy hadn't eaten in hours so her body only had bile to give. After she caught her breath, "Jacob! Alex! Carl! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry," she screamed and bawled. She rubbed tears from one eye and could barely touch the other._

 _Charlie sat next to her and hugged her as best he could. He cried with her, "I know," he said as he rocked her gently with her head held on his shoulder. "Let's get you cleaned and patched up. We can make it to the camp by sunrise if we hurry. We might even be able to send out reinforcements to retrieve their bodies." He stood up. "Lay down on the slope and I'll get the sterile water."_

Amy held her right shoulder with her opposite hand. "I didn't realize it at the time, but I also dislocated my shoulder. I had that reset when we reached the military base. It's honestly hard to say which part hurt more: The crash, the eye, or popping my shoulder back into place." Amy folded her hands on her lap. "I knew I'd lost the vision in that eye completely. It was bright white for a few hours, then it faded to black and I saw nothing until I had the augmentation done."

Sonic held his side. Neither of them had seen a battlefield, yet the war's reach had scarred both of them permanently.

"When we told the military about what had happened, they went to the camp. They found our three friends in the cages," Amy said and wiped away forming tears. "But everyone else was gone. Apparently the group was squatting in an abandoned POW camp. It had been abandoned for years; which was why everything was so broken down. We never did find out who they were, or if they were actually enforcers or not." Amy dried her face completely. "We were able to get Charlie's suit back and successfully powered it up. A new crew had to be sent out to finish the dig a few days later; neither of us could bring ourselves to go back to where it all started."

"There was chaos energy stored in there, wasn't there?" Sonic asked.

"Correct. We were looking for the same thing as Shadow and Rouge. Chaos tech was leftover from some scientists who were conducting less than savory experiments, years ago. They hid in old temples to avoid detection by the authorities. The government finally cracked down on them and the scientists took what they could and ran, others abandoned everything. To the ones who abandoned everything, it was decided that since the technology was so dangerous and unpredictable, they brushed it all under the rug and it was lost to time and forgotten in all those tombs."

"Now that Eggman's drilling for oil, he needs a way to power it all and he's using the leftovers."

Amy nodded. "There were only a few places on the mainland that had these kind of facilities, we cleared them all. Since Seaside Island is so far off the grid, nearly all our monuments have secret labs either within them, or built off of them. It's the main reason we protect this place, beyond the protection of it's crystals."

Sonic folded his arms. "We're protecting crystals and dirty little secrets? How do you know all this and we don't?"

She booped him on the nose, "Because I'm involved with my community." She twirled a quill around her finger. "And I may have gained access to secret documents that I'm not supposed to have access to."

Sonic blinked at her.

"And I may have gave that information to the royal family and told them I'd do all of this under the table."

He blinked more.

"And I may feel guilty about doing that behind the backs of the people who have come to trust me, so I'm jumping through hoops to make improvements to the tourism industry to compensate."

He shut his eyes and drew a breath in an attempt to speak.

She continued. "And I may have been aware of who Jami was before we got on the boat."

"What?"

Amy poked her fingers together. "Why do you think I told you guys to wait a week before we got on the boat in the first place? We knew Jami was on the run, so we got the boats to reroute so they'd end up here. It's also how I knew where to go to get her family records at the library. I knew who I was looking for."

Sonic condescendingly clicked his tongue. "And you were getting after me for wanting to train the twins to be my mischief ninjas. Yet here you are breaking all the rules."

She laughed and rubbed the back of her head. "I'm sorry, but that's all I can tell you."

"I'm glad you-"

She cut him off. "Also, the royal family will be visiting the island for a secret meeting in the near future."

"..."

"It's going to be a fancy dress occasion."

"...no."

She nodded.

"I'm not wearing pants."

Amy held a hand palm up, "What about a kilt?"

He paused in thought. "Fine."

She sighed in relief. "You aren't nervous to meet royalty?"

"Only a little," he admitted.

"Trust me, they like you. I get intelligence reports from the duchess herself, so I know you're one of their favorites."

He gave a grin, "You know, that makes me more nervous."

Amy shrugged. "Oops. Now you see why I didn't want to tell you until it was absolutely necessary. It was to give you less time to worry about it. It's nothing to be nervous about. When you talk to the king you don't need to-"

"I actually need to talk to the guy?!" Sonic fought the urge to ball up.

"Yes! Now don't pop your stitches," Amy said and held him upright and open.

* * *

:D


	48. Chapter 48: New Additions

Now I know why Vector was only in one episode. He's gawd damn tiring to write dialog for! I love a challenge, but holy snap. It was no time at all to write the chapter, but the dialog for Vector had to be researched and reworked to fit and it took forever! Props to the writers for making him have such purple prose. X_X

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 48: New Additions-**_

* * *

"Okay, we'll talk about you putting me on the spot later," Sonic left his insecurities about meeting royalty aside.

"Hehe." Amy stuck out her tongue.

It occurred to him that he had photos to show Amy. "Is this new technology or ancient technology we're after?" He powered up his communicator.

"Some of it's ancient but most of it's from fifty years ago."

He accessed the photos in his wrist device and displayed them for Amy to see. "I took pictures of old photographs we found in the water level."

"Water level?" Amy asked with confusion.

Sonic neglected to offer context. "Who does this look like?" He produced an image of what appeared to be Shadow strapped down to a bed. His face was turned up in a snarl at the cameraman as he attempted to break the ties that bound his wrists and ankles.

"Is that Shadow?"

Sonic shook his head. "He said it was a clone."

"Shadow _was_ created to be a super weapon. It doesn't surprise me that there's more than one individual with his DNA."

Sonic heaved a strained sigh. "Both of you talk about it like it's nothing."

Amy shrugged. "Shadow is who he is. We're all shaped by our memories and experiences, not just our genetic makeup."

"That's sort of what he said too." Sonic scrolled through his images. "A lot of weird stuff went on in there."

He came to a copied image he hadn't fully processed in his head when he took it. The image was of a vicious looking black beast bound to a table. Metal straps held its waist and each limb down. The snout that stuck out from it's muzzle sported sharp fangs. Glaring red eyes gave him a chill. "That's why I ask if it was new or not. What even is that thing? Is this technology something we found and don't understand? Or was it intentionally created and people took it too far?"

Amy shivered at the same image. "It's safe to say both of those things are accurate. We're basically using it as an energy source, not genetic testing or nuclear bombs, which is what they were doing."

"Good. We don't need Eggman blowing himself up one way or the other. He's only got one life. Maybe that new spine will help him level up."

She shook her head, "Again with the game references."

Tails knocked on the door and let himself in. "Hey, are you guys coming back? We're getting ready to cut-" He saw the bloodied clothing and rushed over to see Sonic. "What the heck happened?"

Sonic shut off the slideshow. He held up a hand and waved to Tails. "I'm fine, only a little beat up." He struggled to take a full breath.

"Your socks are as red as your shoes, I'd say that's a little more than 'beat up'." Tails sat on the couch across from them.

Sonic shrugged and placed a hand on the bandage around his chest. "It doesn't hurt that much." He kept up the tough guy act, as to not worry Tails.

"You won't be saying that when the anesthetic wears off," Amy said.

He waved the notion away, "I'll be fine."

"If it's too much pain, you can take a painkiller," Tails suggested.

Sonic looked over his shoulder, "I think there's a bottle on the fridge with some gel capsules."

Tails tilted his head, "Didn't the hospital give you anything?"

"They gave me a prescription but I didn't fill it. I'll tough it out," he said and strained to breathe.

"What happened exactly?" Tails asked.

Sonic gave them a brief rundown of the events that led him to getting over forty stitches in his back and a dozen in his arm.

"I've had a punctured lung before, from a tiny, flying drill bit. It's not fun. I highly suggest you get the pills. It's better to have them in case it's too much to handle. Let me go get them for you," Tails said and stood up.

"Please, say yes; you're fighting to breathe as is," Amy added.

He sighed and raised his hands in defeat. "Fine. I'll call the hospital and let them know you're dropping by to pick up."

"I'll be right back." Tails left to visit the hospital pharmacy. Along the way, he ran into an old friend. Vector waited outside a shop stall with his arms patiently folded. "Long time no see," he said and walked up to him.

"Tails? Long time indeed," he said. Vector noted the size difference from the last time they had met in person. He held a hand, palm down, at Tails height. "Are you taller than the blue boss man now?" He gave him a one armed hug and slap on the back.

Tails laughed. "I think so. What brings you to town?"

He nodded in the direction of two bunny girls, only one of which Tails was familiar with. They shopped for new phone cases. "The little lady wanted to meet her idol, Mina Mongoose. I did her mum a solid and brought her to the island to stay with her pop and sis until game time. You got the skinny on this Mina? They both think the dame's the cat's pajamas; already bought advance tickets, t-shirts, the whole gambit."

"She's pretty great; singer, song writer, musician, a nature activist and a big name in the LGBTQ community. I'm actually helping Mina with the pyrotechnics for the show."

"Sounds like the girly's got a lot going for her. Big work for a big name looks good on the resume," he said with a nod.

"Yep. I want to talk more, but I've got to run right now. Sonic got injured pretty badly earlier today, I need to pick up a prescription for him. He's home right now if you want to stop by to chat."

Vector nodded. "Sure thing. I'll swing on by after I visit Amy."

"Heh, that saves you a trip; Sonic lives at Amy's now."

He gave a hearty chuckle. "They finally came full circle, huh?"

"In many ways." Tails waved as he walked away. "If you're hanging around for a bit, I'll see you there when I get back." He took flight to skip over town to make it to the hospital faster.

"See you there, amigo."

The shorter of the two girls walked away from the shop kiosk and watched Tails fly off. "How is he doing that? That's so cool," Cream said and held her cheeks.

"My man Tails is a multi faceted fox," he said to the sparkly eyed rabbit girl. "You two ready to split? I need to pop by an old friend's to pay some respects."

She nodded.

"Alright, I'll swing by your place to drop you and your sis." Vector brought the girls home and made his way to Amy and Sonic's place. A solid knock on the door later and Amy appeared.

"Vector? I wasn't expecting you so soon. Come on in," she said and let their guest enter.

His mouth dropped open. "I was wondering what Tails was talking about," he exclaimed and took a knee to greet the budding babies within Amy. "When are you due to meet the little hoglet? Got to be any day now." He felt a bit of movement and grinned wide.

"Still a couple months to go. We've got two on the way."

He laughed and stood up and hugged Amy, "Double trouble. I bet Sonic's hopping on hot coals waiting."

"For once, I'm not in a rush," Sonic said from his horizontal position on the sofa.

"Didn't see you there, bro. Crongrats, you two." He took a seat across from Sonic. "Tails said you got roughed up. From the looks of it you've got on more tape than usual. What's the dealio?"

Sonic gave him a brief summary.

"Harsh vibes, man. Positive note though: Buddy may be abrasive, but it's good to know Shadow can come through in a pinch," he said.

"No arguments there." He sent out a message to Knuckles. "When everyone gets here I'll show you the pictures I took before they removed the glass." Sonic noted the abundance of art covering Vector's arms. "You got more ink. Looks good."

Vector displayed the murals on either limb. "Both sleeves are nearly done and I'm working on filling my back too."

"Knuckles got a Tattoo a couple months ago. It's pretty sweet."

"I gotta see that. What's he up to today?"

"He's working on expanding my old hut into a bigger home."

Vector raised an eyebrow, "I never took Knuckles to be the type to be indoors. I've been off the grid too long, so much has changed. I'm in town twice a year but I haven't dropped in to chill in forever."

"Six years by now," Sonic said.

"We usually do correspondence over our communicators," Amy said. "We're all busy these days."

"Some days, more than others. I'm raising Argyle and managing Chaotix on my own now, so I'm understandably swamped," Vector lounged back and relaxed.

"We were just talking about taking on a new member, Julie-Su. Amy and I got her to fight some of Eggman's robots and she wiped the floor with them. Knucks bet five hundo against Eggman that she wouldn't get hit once."

Vector scoffed, "Let me guess, he ended up walking away with the doctor's money."

"Every cent," he said and they laughed.

Amy continued. "She's usually pretty quiet, but Knuckles told us about the day she rallied a whole city block to deal with some nasty customers who tried to raid the garage she worked at. Beyond that precious demeanor is a fighter and team player who can throw down," Amy hit her fist off the opposite palm.

"Sounds like a fly idea. Charmy and Mighty are solid members but we should add a fresh face to the fray. It would make my life much easier." He reached into his vest pocket and handed Amy a paper. "Especially since emigration started en mass. Here, I figured you'd be looking for that. I stopped by East Bay and got the town's headcount before I came here. Fourteen new residents since the luau last week."

"We added two. Julie-Su and Xaun," Amy said and put the paper with the rest of her work in a clipboard she kept under the coffee table.

They chatted until the whole team was present. "Where did Xaun run off to?" Amy noted the lack of echidna in the room.

Knuckles shrugged, "I invited him, but since I said it was for the team, he said he'd hang back."

Jules pointed in the direction of the comedy club, "Comedy Chimp is doing an interview with Mina tonight and he wanted to go see her."

"He managed to get a ticket in time? They sold out pretty fast," Tails said.

Jules laughed out loud, "No," she said and blotted a tear. "He's sneaking in."

Amy rolled her eyes, "That boy hasn't learned a darn thing, has he?"

"He learned that sneaking around to get your way sometimes works." Sticks nervously laughed, "So, what's the meeting about?"

"Julie-Su, I need to speak with you specifically," Sonic said.

She pointed to herself. "Me?"

"Yes, you. You have an impressive skill set that's caught the attention of Shadow the hedgehog," he said.

"The magic guy I found in the bush?" She needed clarification.

Vector raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

"The one and only," Sonic continued. "He needs help going through some of the temples. A bit of puzzle solving and booby trap avoidance. Would you be up for going with him?"

"Sure. Why me though?" Everyone on the team looked away from the question. Jules sunk down in her seat, "That's ominous."

Sonic chuckled, "Until recently, the rest of the team wasn't a big fan of his."

"He flattened all of us as faster than you flattened Eggman's robots," Knuckles said.

"He's turned on us before. If that happens again, Sonic's the only one who can fight him and hold his own," Tails said.

"Trust me, I know he's abrasive, but we can trust him," Sonic said.

"Wow, you two must have had a hell of a bonding session. Sonic's starting to sound like Amy," Sticks folded her arms.

He rolled his eyes. "I know more details now. I know Shadow's on our side for this one. For the sake of the island, we need to help retrieve whatever it is he and Rouge are looking for." Sonic was careful not to give away many details. "Jules, the problem is that you aren't an official member of the team yet. I know you were a bit hesitant to fight the robots a few days ago, why was that? Social norms or was it something else?"

Jules finally realized she was in an interview. "I, uh, used to fight a lot when I was younger."

"Professionally?" Sonic asked.

She chuckled nervously, "I was _really_ good at it, but I didn't get paid. So, no, not professionally."

"Have you ever been arrested for fighting?"

She nodded.

"When? And how many charges?"

"When I was a teenager, too many times to count. The last time was when I was twenty, but that one turned out to not be my fault."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-eight," she said.

"Any other charges?"

She shook her head.

"If it came down to it, would you be willing to fight again, this time to protect others?"

She nodded.

"Would you be interested in joining Team Sonic?" he finally asked.

She smiled wide, "Hell yeah!"

Amy reached into the drawer of the coffee table and pulled out a purple, teardrop shaped communicator. "This is for you."

"Welcome aboard," Sonic said with a smile

Julie-Su wore and admired the new communicator Tails had made the day before. "Glad to help out. Now, where's Shadow the magical hedgehog at? We've got some exploring to do," she smiled wide and punched her fists together.

* * *

Shadow thinks it's going to be easier to deal with Jules than it is Knuckles? Hah! ;P


	49. Chapter 49: Truth Time

I've never been very good at ending things. Ideas keep popping into my brain. All in all, I think it's time for a recap. Next chapter is going to be everything in a nutshell. :D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 49: Truth Time-**_

* * *

Everyone sat on the couches as Sonic revealed an image to the room. A mixed 'Oooo' of pain and awe resonated from the group. "The one in my arm wasn't too bad. Twelve stitches took care of it."

Amy peered through her fingers over his shoulder.

"My back injury had both internal and external stitches. Ames," he said and looked at her, "-you may want to totally avert your eyes; this one even gets me a little."

She covered her eyes completely. "I'll judge whether or not I want to look based on your reactions."

Sonic flipped to the image. Everyone either gasped, cringed or hissed air in through their teeth.

"That's a 'nope'." Amy kept her eyes shielded.

"Told ya," Sonic laughed with a bit of pain, "It hurts to laugh."

"I want to look," she tried to peek, "No I don't," she said and went behind her hands to stay.

"Don't force yourself," he said, now knowing full well why Amy didn't like the sight of blood.

"It went all the way to your lung?" Sticks asked.

"Only slightly. They said fhey didn't need to drain it."

Tails quivered as Sonic showed another angle Shadow took for him. "You're definitely going to need these," he said and tapped a finger on the top of the pill bottle the hospital prescribed.

Sonic picked up and shook the pills. The ten units delicately bounced around within. He looked them over. "These are only one milligram? Is that even going to be enough? Hydro-morph...?" He struggled to read the side of it.

"Hydromorphone hydrochloride?" Vector asked.

He squinted at the tiny print. "...yeah. That sounds about right."

"I've had them before; knocked me flatter than a pancake. I know you hate sitting still, but you may want to cancel plans for the next couple days. You're gonna be too wonky to walk, let alone do construction work."

He nodded. "Heh, I figured as much. I think sitting still for so long is going to be harder than dealing with the pain."

Vector shook his head. "I don't know about that." After a long chat with the group about the island's industry, Vector got up. "I best hit the trail."

"Let me get you a few resumes." Amy went into the bedroom. She emerged with a small bundle of papers. "These are some requests we've gotten from folks who wanted to join the team, within in the last year. I've approved their background checks already; that saves you the leg work. If you see one you like, give me a call, I'll reach out to them for you."

"Baller, Ames. This'll be a great help." Vector looked to Julie-Su and pointed a determined finger, "If Dixon gives you any guff, you tell him to crawl up his own thumb. Got it?"

Julie-Su grinned wide, "Can do."

Vector and Sticks left to carry on with the rest of their day.

Knuckles and Jules were off to meet up with Shadow and Rouge.

Tails sat to speak with the loving couple. He patiently waited with a sweet smile on his face in total silence.

Amy broke the small silence with a sigh and pointed to her left eye. "I told him."

Tails added to the broken silence with a sigh of relief. "Finally."

"What? Tails knew?" He sounded offended.

She nodded. "I couldn't find anyone else who knew how to do the augmentation to my eye. Do you remember how he combined himself with that bee-bot, long ago?"

"Vaguely."

"I hoped he could do something similar for me to help regain the sight."

Tails piped up."We experimented with different combinations to achieve the perfect mix of technology and organic life. We had a lot of failures before we landed on her current design. The first few times we put Amy through the machine, it was too visibly apparent she had a mechanical eye. It had a lot of external pieces that couldn't be covered. Then I got the idea to use a few more organic compounds to make the vision portion of the camera. The first try with the new materials gave us this seamless design. We did need to replace the iris with a colour that was closer to hers, so I 3D printed her right eye and shifted the colours around to look like a natural variation."

"Clever. Why didn't you want to tell anyone though?"

Amy shrugged, "I didn't know if you'd bring up my eye later on. I hid it from you because I couldn't constantly lie to you about how it happened. I knew Tails wouldn't question it further beyond how it was holding up, so that's why I reached out to him."

Tails thought back. "Wait. You told me, you were in a motorcycle accident and you didn't want Sonic to know because he'd be worrying about you driving in dangerous conditions."

Sonic snarkily added in, "Yes, dangerous conditions, like escaping a POW camp and being chased down by soldiers who operate like bandits."

Tails sat there in the silence once again. With an innocent smile and tilted head he blinked in the reality of what he had heard. "Further details, please," he requested.

After the lengthy process of explaining the whole ordeal to Tails, he was rendered speechless. "And the rest of the group doesn't know about this yet?"

They shook their heads.

"I think now that things have gotten closer to home, we should all be up to speed about what's going on," Sonic said.

"I agree. I only kept it to myself so long because I didn't want you all to worry. There would have been nothing we could do until now anyway, so I figured it was best we get to enjoy the peace and quiet while we can." She breathed a sigh of relief to finally getting things off her chest.

"Yep," Sonic attempted to mimic her sigh but was thwarted by a stabbing pain.

"The topical anesthetic must be fully worn off. You should probably take one of those pills now," Tails suggested.

Sonic tried to stand, but couldn't. He barely had any range of movement. "Yeah. Let's have one." He tried to lift his arm to grab the bottle, but the pain stopped him halfway. With the assistance of Amy and Tails, he was medicated, hydrated and laid on his side. His communicator beeped and he looked at the message. He typed a response.

Tails turned to Amy. "Amy, I know we're both busy for the next few days, but I'm busy at home. I can keep an eye on him until you get back."

"Thanks, buddy," Sonic said as he tried to get comfortable on his uninjured side.

"That would be a huge help. Thank you, Tails," she said.

"No problem." He looked at his watch, "It's getting late. How much longer do you think they'll be?"

"Not too long. Aside from a few pitfalls, they haven't run into anything major. She just messaged me that they're heading out now. I'll call the rest of the team and we'll go over the details in, well, detail."

Amy huffed, "They're gonna love this." She wrung her hands nervously.

* * *

x_x


	50. Chapter 50: Up To Speed

After the recap chapter, I want to do an 'extras' chapter. All the characters that keep the story going, on the sides, need their time in the spotlight. It's probably going to be a long one, I've been meaning to write it for a while now. I didn't realize it, but I have over 20 OC's in here as extras. XD

I won't be getting to them all, but most will get some time to shine.

On with the show. :D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 50: Up To Speed-**_

* * *

Amy sat in front of Sonic. He cashewed himself around her bottom. Someone knocked. "It's open," she said.

Sticks was the first to join up again. "Two meetings in one day? Normally we have one a month, at best," she said and sat next to Tails. "Don't tell me Jules is out of commission now, too?"

Tails shook his head. "Not as far as we know."

Sonic yawned. "Jules sounded like she had good news to report."

"Knuckles comin' too?" she asked.

Amy laughed a little. "I called him a moment ago. Xaun got caught trespassing on Comedy Chimp's set. He's at the police station bailing him out."

"Really?" Tails scratched his head. "I think you have to sign for something like that."

"He only needs to sign his name. That shouldn't be a problem," Amy said.

"You know Knuckles can't actually write. Scribbles don't count," he clarified.

"Actually, Jules has been practicing writing his name with him. Whether or not he knows what he's writing, he can at least do that."

Meanwhile, at the station. Knuckles did his best to remember what Jules had shown him. He squinted at the paper as he carefully printed out the letters of his name. He stood up and held the paper straight out, only inches away from the police beaver's face. "What does that say?"

He was a little fearful as he refocused and read the word, "...Knuckels?"

Knuckles wore a proud smile. "Close enough," he said and slapped the paper flat against the desk. "Let's go, little idiot."

Xaun was freed. He walked out of the cell with slumped shoulders. "You don't gotta be mean."

"Yeah, I kinda do. You were told not to stow away again, ya didn't listen. If you keep doing stuff like that, you'll be kicked out of town."

"Ease up. I'm sorry," he said as they walked down the steps of the police station.

"I'm not mad, I just don't want you to have to leave if you like it here. Besides, I don't get to feel all smart and responsible very often; you're letting me have this one." He got the guy to smile.

Xaun chuckled a bit, "Fine. I'm dumb. It won't happen again."

Back at the house, Jules and Shadow teleported to the front door. She rubbed the chill from her arms. "I can see why Rouge doesn't like doing that," Jules briefly knocked and let herself in.

"Welcome back. Any success?" Amy asked.

Shadow followed close behind her. "Two for two. We found a dozen batteries and two of those cylinders Sonic came across." He looked at the blue hedgehog nestled behind Amy. "How's your back?"

He held his hand palm down and waggled it. "So-so. I'm waiting for the first dose of meds to kick in. Ask me again in twenty minutes."

Shadow briefed them on the following day's plans. Tails would accompany him on the next mission. After Shadow left, it looked like he stood outside for a time and then teleported away.

Not long after, Knuckles returned. He was filled in on the successful trip. "Xaun's at the house. He said he'll wire some of the walls and call it a night."

"It makes more sense for them to put the plumbing in before we do the split anyway," Tails said. "Did the plumber call? It's been a few days. They should have the line nearly finished by now."

Knuckles nodded. "He called earlier and said he'd be there in the morning. So, why're we all here again?"

Amy breathed a deep sigh. "It's time to fill you all in about what's going on."

A confused expression fell over the crowd.

Amy began. "This all started as a trip to find other echidna's, simple enough. I knew there were others in the world, though I didn't know where, exactly. I got everyone to wait until I reached out to the royal family to see what they knew. They told me there were a few families in the port town we landed in, so that was easy enough. They requested we wait to travel because they knew another one of their allies were on the run, Jami."

"You're telling me you knew about Jami before we left?" Sticks asked.

"I did. They rerouted trade ships so the one they were travelling on ended up here on the day we left. It felt like fate when Chopper came up and tapped you on the shoulder, Knuckles; more so when he showed me the picture of his friend Kline and his wife's new baby."

"We partied with them that night. You'd never think they came from such a forbidding place with how chill they were," Sonic said. "Jami talked to me the next day about the civil war that her country was in and why they were on the run. That's when I came back and told the rest of you...you know...the moment I found out."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Passive aggressive much?"

"I'm kidding." He smirked deviously and nuzzled her side. "Please, continue."

"I didn't realize how close the rebel forces were when we landed. If I knew they were being followed that closely, I'd have spoke up about it a lot sooner. Regardless, we got what we needed from the library and I let you all know what was happening the next day."

"I forgot to mention something," Knuckles interjected. "While I was working at the pizza shop with Mac and Re'kar, a soldier dropped in with a wanted poster."

Jules nodded, "I remember that one. You showed it to Re'kar and he thought you were harboring criminals. He was so mad for, like, two seconds. They were offering a reward and everything," she said.

"I seriously don't know what we would have done if you didn't meet him that day. He saved all our hides," Tails said.

"And then some," Amy agreed. "If not for the rest of his family, and the use of the underground tunnles, they'd have been trapped in town. The caravan he sent out reached the south in no time. If we needed to reach the caravan for any reason, being on the mainland was the only way we'd be able to help them in a hurry. I'm glad Re'kar could put us up for two, plus, months. In turn, we helped them out with their newborn and they helped us plug the island as a resort town."

Knuckles smiled, "Yeah, getting to stay so long also gave me a chance to learn a lot about my culture from Jules grandfather. I got tons of stories Simon let me record," he said and pointed to his wrist communicator. "We echidna's have a long history with the chaos emeralds and chaos energy in general."

"Wait a sec, is that why you suggested what you did about Shadow and Rouge?" Sonic asked.

Knuckles nodded. "Kinda; it was only a hunch. I told Simon where we lived and he talked about how Angle Island used to be floating with the power of the master emerald. He said that these islands used to all be powered using chaos technology. I guess they still are."

Amy smiled. "A lot of good came from our trip. We managed to use Kai-Li's concections to get a ferry service once a week and she even got us in touch with Dr. Sang who gave us our first ultrasound."

"Soon my little hellions...soon," Sonic muttered as he snuggled Amy.

Amy gave him side eyes. She continued. "The technology we're going after is going to be used to power a drill to tap into an oil reserve under Dr. Eggman's lair. The royal family hire forces to protect fringe areas like ours. We give them oil in exchange for protection, our island gets to expand without fear of pirates raiding our home. The oil in turn is either used or sold to fund the militia that they hired, which is where Shadow and Rouge come in. They both work for the military. They're in charge of finding the chaos energy and reporting any suspicious activity."

Everyone calmly took in the information.

Sonic said, "Rouge, private first class and Major Shadow are getting orders from a colonel, who's getting orders from a duchess, who's getting orders, presumably, from a king. We're the bottom line in a long chain of command."

"You don't need to sound so glib about it," Tails said.

"Yeah. We're sitting pretty in the shade," Sticks added.

"It's peaceful in the shade, but the sun goes down eventually. Then everyone's cold," Sonic said and rubbed his eyes.

"Try to think of the royal family as an electric heating blanket, to get us through the night." Amy sugested.

"Why would a royal family be interested in helping us in the first place?" Sticks asked.

"They wanted to protect us after what happened to my crew druing the dig three years ago. A harmless dig nearly turned into a kidnapping secenario because of Duchad's lackeys." Amy requested Sonic and Tails keep her prosthegic on the down low for the time being. "I do a lot of work for this island and our constituents. They joined the resistance on our behalf. The island doesn't know that they technically aren't impartial anymore, but that's fine since we now have the protection of the entire O'Hedge family on our side."

"O'Hedge? That's a big name. They control the entire kingdom of Acorn." Sticks sounded surprised.

"Shadow and Rouge were both in the committe meeting that made the decision to allow them to explore. As far as the town's concerner, those two are here to find minerals and report them back to me. Since I already know the location of mineral deposits, every few days I report a new loaction for the town committee to excavate." Something occured to her as she checked the time. "Speaking of which." Amy called the mayor's personal line.

" _Good evening, Amy. Any luck today_?"

"Indeed, plenty. We found the biggest iron deposit to date."

" _Wonderful news. Send me the coordinates and I'll have someone out there in the morning_."

Amy finished her call with the mayor and turned back to the rest of the group.

"Thas kinda what Rouge tol'me the other day, she'za geol'gist. I guess she technically wasn'lying," Sonic sloppily spoke.

Amy looked behind her to Sonic. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I don't feel anything. I can't even feel m'tongue," he said and stuck his tongue out and bit down lightly. "Fee? Nuffin," he said with it half hanging out of his mouth.

"Let's not bite down too hard." She closed his mouth for him. "We should probably wrap this up now. I think that's everything that's happened up until this point. Tails, Knuckles, would you help me get him into the bathroom? I don't think he needs to be covered in mud and dried blood for the whole evening."

"Amy, I don't know if I can stan'fer long in the shower ri'now." His head felt heavy and dizzy as he sat up. "And they told me not to get my stitches wet for the first two days." His friends delicately got him to his feet.

"I'll be cafeful to keep the rest of you dry." Amy went into the closet and pulled out a small unopened box that contained a seat to go in the tub. "I bought this yesterday, for when my belly gets too big and it's too hard to stand in the shower for long. We can sit you on this and get you cleaned up for the evening."

Knuckles stayed behind to help Amy get Sonic in and out of the tub. The other three made tracks. The girls followed Tails to wherever he was going. "Any plans for tonight?" he asked.

The girls shook their heads. "Nope," Jules said. "You?"

He nodded. "Mina's coming over to drop off some concert supplies and hang out for a bit."

Sticks narrowed her eyes. "I thought Amy asked you to keep it professional? She's been over there everyday since you two met. Things are starting to look a little fishy," she pointed out.

"Trust me, that's not an issue," Tails said with a chuckle. "Come on over and hang out with us. You'll see what I mean."

Jules and Sticks shrugged at one another. They tagged along to Tails pad.

* * *

My laptop is fried and I had to write this on my phone. The keyboard is tiny an there is NO spellcheck. Forgive the typos. X.x

I had a bluetooth keyboard, but after the apartment fire this past summer, it was probably stolen with all my snes games. TT_TT fml


	51. Chapter 51: Town Folx

I just realized that there might be folks out there who don't know how to pronounce Xaun's name. It's sounds like you're trying to say the name Shawn and John at the same time.

On we go to Town Folx, City Folx and finally Foreign Folx.

I'm sure you understand that writing a physical injury for someone doesn't make a very interesting chapter. So while Sonic is recovering, we're going to pay attention to the extras.

Peace out. :D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 51: Town Folx-**_

* * *

Staci sat at her vanity and applied dark purple eyeshadow. "Are you sure you don't want to go with us tonight?" She looked at her sister's reflection in the mirror next to her.

Perci sat on her bed across the room. She laid the book she was enjoying at her side. "I'd love to, but I really need to finish this book report. It's due tomorrow. Why isn't The Chameleon going with you?"

Staci huffed and folded her arms. "We aren't speaking at the moment. He chose to attend a stupid Lightning Bolt Society meeting over seeing Mina's interview tonight." She reached into her makeup drawer, grabbed dark mascara and applied a heavy coat. "We may never speak again. I've had enough of his lackadaisical ambition; it's a huge turn off. He's had multiple opportunities to move up the chain of command, but doesn't because his work load would increase. Who wants to be an underling their whole life? Not this chick," she said and poked a thumb in the middle of her chest.

"That's a shame. Can you get your money back, or maybe sell it? I'm sure it'll go fast," she suggested with a shrug.

"No, I'll find someone." She examined how lovely her reflection looked. Staci grabbed perfume from another drawer and spritzed herself. "You know who I'm thinking is an untapped resource? That lug, Knuckles. You know what they say: The dumb ones fuck harder."

"I've never heard anyone but _you_ say that." She laughed. "He actually has a girlfriend now."

She spun around to look at her sister. "What? Who? Since when? I'll fight her."

"He got off the boat with her nearly a week ago. She must be from the mainland."

Staci tossed her hands in the air. "Well, dammit." She tried to remember if she'd seen Knuckles with anyone recently. "I haven't seen any of Team Sonic since they got back; and I was way too hammered at the luau to recall much."

"Her name is Julie-Su. She's a lavender coloured echidna. Chick is stacked and probably four feet tall. If you think you can take her, you can't. I watched her scrap five robots in a row."

"Balls." She rose to her feet and walked over to her window and looked at her neighbour's house. Bunny girl's bedroom light was still on. Staci raised an eyebrow. "I thought he was the only echidna left," she said.

"I asked him about that at the robo-fights. Apparently, there are still a few families of echidna who live on the main continent. Their trip to the mainland was actually to go and find them. He also got a bitchin tattoo while he was there. It's a sight to behold."

She slumped. "I bet."

"There's actually a third echidna that lives on the island now. His name is Xaun, spelled with an X at the beginning. He's pretty cute-"

"Dibbs!" She cut her sister off.

She laughed again. "I wasn't interested. He's all yours. He also has a few tattoos. I think they're crop circles. And he's not red like Knuckles, he's tan coloured."

Staci half folded her arms and tapped a single finger on her chin. "I suppose if I can't have Knuckles, I'll just get with his cousin."

Perci thought about it. "I don't think he said that they were related at all."

"And I thought you said there weren't many echidnas left. They're probably all related by now."

"Oh my god, racist much?" Perci shook her head in disgust.

"No, I'm not judging. Just saying, numbers are numbers." She brushed off her sister's eyeroll and headed for the door. "Don't wait up." She grabbed a black evening bag and left to find her date.

"I won't," she said and went back to her book.

Staci leaned back in the door. "So we're clear, I'm not racist towards echidna's, just the Gogogba's; fucking smelly sand-rats."

Perci laughed again and threw her pillow at the door. "You're terrible! Leave!"

Staci shut the door before she was hit. "Hahaa!" She took to the streets and sauntered over to Bunny girl's house. She let herself in. "Hey, Bonnie. Is BG ready?"

The woman sat at the kitchen table with a cigarette and her phone. "Almost. She's in her room with her sister," she said and blew smoke out a nearby window.

"Thanks." Staci knocked on the bedroom door and heard a 'come in'. "Sup, chicky? Ready to bounce?"

BG nodded and put new rainbow hoops in the tips of her ears. "I'm pumped."

"Me too," she said and noticed the younger of the sisters playing with a small electronic toy. "You coming too?"

Cream shook her head and didn't look up. "All of the tickets were sold out by the time I got to town."

"If I knew you were coming, I'd have got you one," BG said curtly.

"It's no problem," she said sweetly. Cream put the electronic keychain away. "I can see her on TV. Plus we're going to her concert in a few weeks. I'll get to see her in person then, hopefully, maybe. You two have fun."

"It's way early," BG said as she checked her phone.

"We have to leave a little early, I got to go pick up my date." Staci looked at the garish orange dress Cream was wearing. "We have time. Why don't we give your sister a makeover before we go?"

"Why?" They both asked at the same time.

"If you're going to be going to a Songoose concert with us, you have to look the part. You need to have cool threads, hot makeup and a bitchie attitude. You'll get eaten alive by other chicks if you show weakness."

"Uh, I'm not sure," Cream said with a blush.

BG got up and threw open her wardrobe. "Perci has a point. The thought of sitting next to you at the concert, in that ugly little school girl dress, makes me throw up in my own mouth."

"Can't you just take an antacid?" she shyly asked.

"No, it's just an expression," she said with an eye roll. "Here, try these pants on. They're kind of short on me, but you're small, they should fit you fine."

She looked at the blue skinny jeans with worry. "Do I change right here?"

Staci folded her legs on BG's bed and faced the wall. "Boom, instant privacy."

"You're such a wet blanket. We really need to work on your 'lack of attitude'. Here, I know you don't have much to put in it, but this should fit too," she said and tossed her little sister a white spaghetti strap tank top. It had a deep 'V' neckline.

"...it's kind of low," Cream asked while she held the garment up to herself.

"That's the point. Then put this over it." She gave her an orange fishnet halter top.

"Ya decent?" Perci asked after she heard a bit of shuffling.

"Uhhh, I think," she said with worry. "My bra straps are showing."

"That's no big deal, so are mine." Perci turned to look at her. "Look at you! Are you a rabbit or a fox?" Staci gave an enthusiastic growl.

"It needs bling," she said and looked at Cream's ears. "Why aren't your ears pierced?"

Cream held her ears to herself. "It's gonna hurt," she said quietly.

"Whatever," BG said. She adorned her sibling with various colored bands on her wrists and a chunky necklace, with a rainbow pixel heart. She topped the outfit off with light blue, silver rimmed sunglasses on her head. "There. Now you pass."

Cream looked at herself in the mirror and saw a stranger staring back. "I may need to get used to it first. I look good though," she said but didn't quite convince herself. She turned to the side and noticed her tail hadn't gone all the way into the back opening. She straightened herself out.

"Wear those for the rest of the night. We'll get you used to skinny geans now, then we move you up to bum hugging yoga pants. Then it's the makeup, then your attitude; after that, there might be hope for you." BG shrugged.

The two girls left for Mina's interview. "You and your sister are polar opposites."

"Ugh, half sister."

Staci hesitated but decided to pipe up anyway. "Perci and I don't get along all the time but I still care about her."

BG gave her sideways glance, "Say what you're gonna say."

"Fine. Why were you being a cunt to her?" She asked unabashedly.

She stopped in her tracks and spun around. "Because that bitch nearly broke my mom and dad up permenantly. If they didn't get back together, she'd have been dead to me."

Staci pointed a finger directly in her face. "Chill out or I'm not buying you a drop to drink tonight." Her friend calmed down. "Cream seems like a sweet girl. Do you think someone like her wants to break up someone's family? No. She wouldn't. Besides, let's point that misdirected anger at the people who actually did something. Cream's just a bystander. No one asks to be here," she finished her thought.

"Pff...you're right." They walked past the hospital. "...she's still lame though. That girl needs an overhaul."

"A bit," Staci laughed. "Nothing confidence won't fix," she said and put her hands on her hips.

Someone from the hospital ran up to them, "Excuse me, have either of you seen a bat, female, white and peach in colour?"

They shook their heads.

"Spread the word, would you please, girls? Code yellow: Missing patient. She has an agressive form of pneumonia. If she doesn't get back on the antibiotics soon, we can't guarantee she'll survive."

"Holy shit, you mean Rouge? Of course," Staci said and they continued on. They told every villager along the way about the missing patient.

They approached the police station where Knuckles walked out with Xaun close behind. "There he is!" Staci pulled BG off to the side to seem inconspicuous. "Look cool," she said.

"Who are we looking at? Knuckles? He's a litte too old for my tastes."

"Not him, the guy behind him."

Her eyes shot open. "Is that another echidna? No way!"

"Yeah it is. He's my date for tonight," she said and wrung her hands in anticipation.

"If he's your date, why are we over here?"

"Because he doesn't know he's my date yet. Perci told me about him. He is pretty cute."

"What are you two up to?" A familiar voice sounded from behind them.

The two girls turned to look at him. "Charlie? Your back."

"Yes, we finished our dig early so I got to leave a few weeks sooner than anticipated. It works out well because there's an important meeting tonight. Are you two going?"

Stacy shook her head. "We made previous arrangements that couldn't be canceled. We'll have to get caught up tomorrow sometime. Now, if you'll excuse us, I have to go and pick up my date for tonight." They walked off.

Charlie continued on to the meeting and walked by the hospital. He was accosted by the same staff, for the same reason. He caught a conversation from the main desk, "Mr. Shadow, sir, the work associate you dropped off seems to be missing. Do you potentially know where she's at?"

He continue to the Lightning Bolt Society meeting. He heard some shuffling in some bushes and the scurrying of fast feet. Charlie quickly went up the steps and let himself into the building. "Damn strays."

Willy the walrus was the first to greet him. "Welcome back Charlie, you've missed quite a bit."

"I'm not the only one. The hospital is currently looking for a missing patient. Sounds like there's a lot going on nowadays."

Charlie walked to meet his wife at the end of the table. She stood and hugged him. "I missed you, honey," she said and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"I missed you too, dear." They all sat down.

"Is anyone else coming?" Belinda asked.

"I know that Piercy and BG won't be here, due to prior engagements," The Chameleon said with a frustrated sigh.

"Then we're all here." Belinda cleared her throat. "As you all know, our villainy has grinded to a halt. The recent uprising in the south has become a huge issue. Unfortunately, we're unable to terrorize the villagers, and the subsequent guests that come here, if we want to continue living peacefully on this island. I'm unsure of how long this period will last. Until further notice, any villainy must take place online only. That means no pickpocketing, no swindling and above all else, no mech suits," she said with a hint of grievance.

Barker threw his hands up. "If I can't shake down shmucks, how am I supposed to survive? Eat dirt?"

"We'll hold two weekly pot lucks so we're sure everyone is eating," Belinda said.

"And I can bring the leftovers in at the end of the day," Dave said.

Barker turned his nose up, "I'll stick with dirt."

"I heard a stray animal run past me on the way here. Maybe you should try to catch it and display it as some crazy jungle beast for tourists. It's not underhanded if it's legitimately an animal from the island," Charlie said.

"Great idea." He got up. "I'd love to stay but apparently my livelihood is about to scurry away. All right Charlie, which way did it go and how big was it?" He took the directions and left.

Barker went to his van and got an appropriately sized net. "That should be good enough; give him a bit of wiggle room." Barker slinked around the back of the building, through a couple alley ways, around the town hall and back towards the hospital once again.

"...it looks like it isn't here anymore, damn it all...hold the phone." He saw something out of the corner of his eye. "Fast little bugger, aren't ya?" He readied the net above his head, rested on a shoulder and quickly got into position. He pulled a blow dart gun from his vest pocket pointed it at the tiny shadow of a creature hiding underneath the hospital's patio. "Nap time." He quickly blew the dart and hit his target. The target winced and bolted at a speed Barker could barely follow with his eyes. "What the hell? Are these duds?" He reloaded and turned to the nearest villager, Wildcat, and hit him with the stun dart. The guy dropped like a fly. "Nope. Fast and resilient! You're going to make a marvelous attraction!"

Barker bolted after the beast who ran into the fenced-in backyard of the hospital. "I've got you right where I want you." He shut and latched the gate of the iron bared area and effectively locked them both in. "Now I don't want to be too aggressive, but when it comes down to it, I bite too. Let's just go peacefully, no one has to get hurt," he spoke softly and quietly as he followed the crumpled grass around the back of the hospital.

The creature no longer had anywhere to run. It turned and locked eyes with Barker with a snarl.

"You don't have to be like that. I treat my attractions with respect. Only the finest living accomidations and foods...even if the discount version gives my people food poisoning. Come on, it was a one time thing." He saw it was mostly black in color, with red stripes. It walked on all fours. The beast snarled more and backed into the moonlight. Crimson eyes lit up and his appearence was more visible. "What the hell...Shadow...no, you're different."

Though the creature was obviously feral, it's countenance was strikingly close to Shadow the Hedgehog's. A few differences we're visible. The red around his eyes was pointed, the red stripes on his arms extended to his middle finger coloring it red. The same markings were on his feet and middle toes. His quills were ruffled and shaggy from living out in the jungle, but like Shadow, they were all tipped in red.

He calmly put the net down and held his hands up to show they were empty. "Are you able to communicate?"

The feral hedgehog growled at him.

"Hard 'no'. Alright, let's do this the sleepy way. I guess your quills are a good defense agains these." He took out his blowdart gun and reload it. "I won't hit them this time." He blew the dart. The creature caught it midair and threw it to the side. "That's not good. That's not good at all," his voice quivered as he backed away.

The creature looked to the full moon and then back to Barker. His body swelled and fur lengthened. His eyes bulged as his teeth grew pointed. The claws on his hands and feet, now elongated, became razor sharp and dug into the dry earth below. His frame now towered over Barker. He roared loudly with jaws were large enough to engulf his assailant's head.

Barker's only response was to faint.

The creature took off into the night to find his prey. Though it possessed no speech, it was a spiteful being who proceeded to leave claw marks on every building in the small town.

* * *

It's going to go from the extras chapters, back into a main plot chapter and back again. Kind of my way to show how the extras keep it going. Don't know where I'll put all those chapters. We'll wait and see.

I wish I could draw, I have so many scenes I'd love to doodle out. Like werehog Shadow clone with Barker's head nearly in his mouth as he roars. He's a circus dude, so this is kind of a crack at putting your head in a lion's mouth. Oh well, writing will have to suffice. ;D


	52. Chapter 52: Pet Peeve

Gonna break up the 'Folx' chapters some. But the idea still stands. Y'all'll see. :D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 52: Pet** **Peeve**_ **-**

* * *

Cream ran into the kitchen sobbing. She hugged her stepmom. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" Bonnie asked.

With large tears in her eyes she held up her light blue, oval, electronic keychain. "I put it on my notebook on the dresser, then after sis and her friend left, I went looking for it and I found it in a glass of water." She cried into Bonnie's dress. "Why is she so mean to me?"

The woman tried to offer reason. "Are you sure it didn't fall in by accident?"

She nodded. "It was on the windowsill across the room."

Bonnie huffed. "It'll be coming out of her allowance to replace it."

Cream shook her head. "I've had this for years. They don't make Chaomagotchi anymore." She hugged the water damaged bobble.

"Hang on." Bonnie dialed Vector who was working late. "Do you have a minute?"

" _I can give you forty-five seconds. What's crackin'_?"

"Could you get a hold of your friend, Tails? He's savvy with electronics, isn't he? Cream's electronic got some water in it."

" _I'll send him your way. If not tonight, tomorrow for sure. I'll let you know either way._ "

"Wonderful. Thank you." While they waited for a response, Bonnie made some hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows to lighten the mood.

There was a knock at the door. Bonnie let Tails in. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked.

Cream calmly showed him the virtual pet.

"I remember these! I think I still have a couple lying around somewhere."

She rubbed her elbow held tightly at her side. "I don't want to sound ungrateful...but is there any way to fix this one?" Cream poked her fingers together. "It was a gift from someone who isn't here anymore."

Tails gave her a reassuring smile. "If any of the circuits are fried, I can use the ones I have leftover to reprogram it. If you want, you can come to my workshop while I repair it."

Cream looked at her fresh cup of coco. Bonnie picked it up and transferred it to a travel mug over the sink. "Here's one for you too, Tails," she said and handed them their drinks.

Tails brightly smiled. "Thank you, Bonnie."

"I need to get my bag before we go." Cream quickly went to the bedroom, grabbed her dress and shoved it into her duffle.

They went to the workshop.

Tails made quick work of the device. He popped it open, removed the plastic or rubber bits and dried it in his oven. When finished, he hooked it up to his laptop. Tails fast typing fingers gained access to the data stored on the small computer chip. With such focus, he forgot to talk to his guest. "Sorry about the silence. I work alone so often, I sometimes forget to conversate."

Cream smiled. "That's fine. I concentrate better when it's quiet too. Is it okay if I look around your shop while you work?"

He nodded. "Be sure not to touch any buttons. I can't remember if I put the dimensional rifter on the top shelf or not."

"Oki-Doki." There were many strange devices on his shelf. Things that look like batteries, bombs, battery-powered bombs, weird tools and a line of retro video games were a few of the things that caught her eye. Standing in the corner was a large square framed device with a panel on the side. There was a long thick cord wrapped up and draped over the top of the device.

"It looks like all of the information is still intact on the Chaomagotchi. All we need to do is dry out the whole thing and put it back together." He looked to his drying unit and set it to the lowest setting and placed the whole device inside.

"That's wonderful news. Thank you so much. I know it's dumb, but I really like that little toy a lot."

Tails held up a hand. "You don't need to justify anything. I care about all my creations in ways that other people don't get either. Besides, you said that it was special because it was a gift." He noticed her tearing up a bit. "What's wrong?"

Cream tried to keep it together, but she couldn't help get emotional. "It's my sister. She keeps trying to get rid of it. She tried to throw it in the bushes once. Luckily I found it."

Tails raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"She said 'You're sixteen, it's childish, you need to grow the 'fff' up." She censored herself.

He shook his head. "Who does she think designed this toy?" Tails pointed to the drying, shelless electronic. "It wasn't a child. _Adults_ make toys like this. Adults who play with toys like these, understand how valuable they can be to children and go on to create the toys for the next generation. Come on? Does she really think a toy like this was conceived by a professional who hated toys and never played with them as an adult? Hardly. It's alright if you want to play with this thing until you're old and gray; provided it'll last that long." Cream ran up to him and hugged him tightly. "Woah," he said and blushed, giving her a hug in return.

"That means so much to hear. Thank you," she said and let go to wipe her face dry.

Tails handed her a box of tissues from the table. His communicator beeped and he quickly responded to Jules. "I have an idea." He flew to the top shelf and rummaged. "...yep, here they are." In his hand were two more Chaomagotchi, black and purple in colour. "I know these batteries are dead by now." He hovered lower and reached into another box for store bought watch batteries.

He gave Cream a screwdriver and they both replaced the power supply on the virtual pets. Each sprung to life. "They work!" Cream bounced as she watched a tiny Chao logo wiggle around on the screen.

"Let your sister pick one and you can keep the other." He handed her the one he had.

Cream took it and looked at him. "Could I give one to her friend Staci, instead?"

He nodded, "Even better. I notice something about folks who don't like things like these; usually the lack of empathy happens because they never owned one of their own. Some families don't believe in electronic toys and others plain old can't afford them. Maybe if your sister saw first hand how much fun you had with it, she may come around. No guarantees, but it's worth a shot. If not, you have two new little buddies to play with."

Cream gasped in horror as she suddenly remembered something dire. "I forgot Mina's interview!"

"Don't worry," Tails said shook his head. "I was recording it." He checked his watch. "Come on, we only missed a few minutes," he said and led them out of the workshop. As Tails locked up, he heard a strange noise in the distance. He ignored it.

They joined up with Sticks and Jules just as a commercial break came on. "Allow me to introduce you to two more Team Sonic members. Long time member and local conspiracy enthusiast, Sticks the badger."

"Pleasure," Sticks said with a two fingered salute from her comfy lounged position on the couch.

"Potential future robo-fighting champ and newest member in the group, Julie-Su the echidna," he said.

She waved and nodded, "Jules, for short, if you like."

"Wow, you're both on Team Sonic? That's so cool. My dad talks about you all the time."

"We're all on the team, sister," Sticks said and pointed to Tails.

Cream's tail bushed out as she spund around. "That's right, you said 'two more'!" She got a nod. "That's even cooler! I've met half the team now!" She bounced up and down and rattled her new pixel friends around. "Oops," she said and calmed down and held them silent. "Hey, you didn't give yourself an introduction," she said and looked at Tails.

Sticks piped up, "Tech whiz, mechanical genius and normally the smartest member on the team, Tails the two tailed fox."

He laughed, "Thanks, Sticks."

"Anytime, bro," she said with a grin.

They all sat around and watched Mina's interview. Tails had gotten a text message from Jules earlier asking where he was. He responded, requesting they not spoil the surprise of Mina showing up after her interview. Cream needed some cheering up and he was sure meeting Mina would make her hit the roof with excitement.

Something occurred to Tails. He quickly hopped online to check if his roof insurance was up to date.

* * *

My sister wasn't a gamer like me growing up. I grew up in the 90's, so the SNES was my bag. When she was old enough, makeup and shopping was hers. My little brother(21) got my 'game hand me downs' growing up. She had no interest and even kind of 'poo pooed' games in general.

Within the last four years, I got rid of an old 3ds and had a spare copy of Animal Crossing: New Leaf floating around...so I gave it to her free of charge and told her not to knock it till she tried it.

We now live over 5 hours apart, but she(20), me(32) and my daughter(13) all play AC:NL together. Games are for everyone! XD

Sometimes, you just need to drop the bias and see for yourself if you like something.

Peace out. :D


	53. Chapter 53: Stalking

I'm trying to work on the whole 'shit happening at the same time' thing. I'd say I'm doing good...but that's only because **I** know what's actually going on. x.x

Fingers crossed that this doesn't get confusing. :)

I also tried my hand at drawing. I drew a doodle of Barker with his head in the werehog's jaws; kind of akin to putting one's head in a lion's mouth. It turned out pretty good. I don't usually tweet, but I tweeted it, at Sassy29214821 on twitter, if you give a hoot. :D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 53: Stalking-**_

* * *

Mina tapped her pen on the table. She hummed while hunched over incomplete lyrics. She scribbled a word and underlined it. "Right word, wrong timing..." She heard a creak and looked up. "Hmm?"

"What was that?" A bearded, hippo guard asked from the greenroom door.

"Oh, nothing, Sammy. I'm hearing things."

Another creak sounded and he looked up, arms stoutly folded. "Must be the wind. We have the building on lockdown. No more break ins from little perves, for sure," he said and briefly recalled the unwelcomed echidna from earlier.

She shook her head. "He's young and dumb, we've all been there. Sneaking in to see the show isn't a reason to press charges."

"You're too nice, Miss Mina."

She giggled, "Just 'Mina', is fine."

"Force of habit," he said and rubbed the back of his head.

A stagehand leaned in and said, "We're on in five, Miss Mina."

"Thank you, five," she said and the lady was gone again. "Heh, I see what you mean." Mina wrapped up her things and went to the mirror. She sighed and stretched. "Interviews are stressful."

"Our dinkey little crowd doesn't even hold two hundred people. Why you stressing?"

She looked over her shoulder at the back of her outfit. "Interviews are different than concerts. Sure, I know the questions and what I'm gonna say, but the audience isn't necessarily _all_ a fan of mine. I've had things thrown at me before. I don't expect anything to go wrong, it's just a small crowd and I'm easier to hit if I'm closer."

Sammy cracked his knuckles. "Any villains worth their salt wouldn't dare lay a hand on you tonight."

"Not everyone who dislikes me is a villain," she said and fluffed her long purple hair.

Back at Tails house, Sticks tossed a pretzel up and caught it in her mouth. "I saw her talkin to Tails after the luau last week. I didn't even recognize her. Amy gave Tails a loan of her stuff." Sticks grabbed two CD's from the end table handed them to Julie-Su.

Jules held Mina's albums side by side. The newest album was a mature, disrobed, idol with vibrant purple hair past her bottom. The other had a brown haired, bob-cut idol, who wore the frilliest, cutest, outfit ever conceived. "Oh yeah, zero to sixty. She went from 'candy coated fever dream' to a 'stacked and sexy wet dream'."

"It's wild. I like the new music style too." Sticks gushed as she checked the time on the wall. "This is starting in a few minutes. Where'd Tails run off too?" She saw his workshop lights on. "He's in there with someone."

Jules messaged him. "..." She read the response. "'Don't worry if it starts without me, the recorder is running. Keep Mina's visit a secret'." She wrote back, "Can...do..." and shut off her device.

"Ooh, it's starting," Sticks bounced in place with excitement.

Jules put her feet up on the table and tore open a second bag of snacks. "Let's see what you got, Mina."

TV's Comedy Chimp soon spouted words worth listening to. "From her humble, single award, beginnings on the album 'Mina Mongoose: Songoose'; all the way to her newest, best selling, record breaking, hit album 'Becoming Self', here's Mina Mongoose's newest single, 'Era One, Over here'!"

Mina and her band played their uplifting track. The song made a word play on it's title, in that it also sounded like 'everyone over here'. She sung of her transformation and fulfillment of finally being her own artist. The lyrics encouraged others to find themselves, as she had.

The audience went wild. Comedy Chimp came back on stage clapping. "What a performance!" CC hugged Mina and led her to the hot seat for questioning. "Mina Mongoose and the Tappers, everybody!" The crowd cheered.

At the Lightening Bolt Society meeting, they paused to witness the idol belt out her tune. "She's really good," The Chameleon said with his arms folded.

"That's considered good? I suppose, if it's what the people want. A tad juvenile for my tastes," Belinda said with a bit of skepticism.

"A little birdie told me that there's already folks moving to the island because they know she's here for good," Willie said.

"For good?" Dave thought out loud, "Does that mean we're not going to be able to go back to the way things were? Meh Burger can't afford to keep _not_ buying cheap and or expired meats. Am I supposed to jack the prices up and start delivering excellent service?" He folded his arms and cocked his head to the side, "Because, I won't," he said and trailed off.

"Maybe Barker is having some luck," Charlie suggested.

Comedic timing brought Barker back to them at that moment. He came in, slammed the door shut and locked it behind him. He peered out the window with a paranoid gaze. Finally, he shut the curtains and pushed a nearby, waist high bookshelf in front of the door. "Werewolf," was all he said as he held his back to the barricaded door.

"And like that, he's fallen off the wagon," Willie said and got up. He pat Barker's jacket down. "Where is it?"

"Would you cut that out! No one's fallen off of any wagons!" He took his coat off and threw it at Willie's face. "Though, after tonight, I may swan dive. Dealing with you assholes, it's a wonder I haven't drank myself to death already; not for lack of trying, mind you."

"Get to the point, Barker," Belinda said and tapped an annoyed finger on the table.

Barker grit his teeth, then spoke, "I bore witness to, what I can only assume is, a werewolf transformation. It looked at the full moon, then grew in size and sharpness." He felt the pocket of his shirt, "They're in the truck. Does anyone have-?" One of the weasel bandits extended a smoke. He lit it and took a drag. A noticeable tremor in his hand was accented by a quivering ember.

"Sorry, Barker, I shouldn't assume," Willie said after he found no mind altering substances in the man's clothing.

"I'm not insane," he grabbed his coat and said, with an pointed cigarette, "Not for this reason, anyway." He gathered his thoughts. "It was a black and red hedgehog; not Shadow, but someone who looked like him. I tried to dart the guy and take him in, but ended up pissing him off instead then he wolfed out on me. We need to contact Shadow and see if he can shed some light on this." He looked around to see everyone's doubtful expression. "I'm not joking here! People could get hurt! My people! I need them to live...so I can use them to keep myself alive!"

Belinda gave him the device they used to contact Eggman's fortress, in case of emergencies. "You call. If this is a crock, the egg's on your face."

Dave shivered at the mention of Shadow. "I get so nervous when he comes into the restaurant with Rouge. He never orders anything and never makes eye contact, but it's still nerve racking," Dave said as he watched Barker call out on the device.

"You need to know how to talk to the man, is all," Barker said and waited for someone to answer.

Shadow's face appeared on the screen. "What is it?" He didn't sound amused to hear from the Lightning Bolt Society.

Barker spoke to the point. "I had a run in with a being that looked like you, but possessed the ability to transform into a huge hulking beast with jaws as big as my head. Do you have any clue what might be going on?"

Shadow hung up and appeared behind Barker. "Explain further," he said with folded arms.

Barker held a hand over his now pounding heart as he took a seat. "Geez," he said and caught his breath. He took a final puff and put the smoke out in a narby, tabletop candle. "I was in town, tracking what I thought was a beast I could display in my circus. Turns out, it was a feral hedgehog who looked very similar to you, what with the black fur and red stripes. He took a look at the full moon and transformed into some kind of werewolf thing, with huge teeth and claws and, if I might add, an angry demeanor. I may have tried to knock it out with a stun dart prior to the transformation, further upsetting it, him, them."

"Pack of fools. Stay in here," Shadow said and disappeared again. He came back and looked around the shack and gave a tongue click. "On second thought, get to your houses. A stiff breeze would knock over this shitshow of a meeting hall." He was gone again.

Charlie pushed his glasses up and said, "Rude." Everyone began to disperse. Charlie saw Barker with his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. "Come on. You can stay with us until we hear back from Shadow."

Barker rose to his feet, still shaken and followed the couple to their home.

Shadow teleported to the top of the town hall to look around. Very few folks walked around. He knew most were hold up at the nightclub, for an interview with a pop singer.

He spotted the creature in question. It carried something large in it's mouth as it prowled on all fours. "He's heading Sonic's way...he's in no hurry though." Shadow stayed out of sight as he observed and tracked the beast from afar. It walked casually and didn't seem too distraught. His communicator vibrated. It was the hospital again. He had been ignoring Rouge's calls all day. He answered it this time. "Dammit, Rouge. I don't care how high the morphine makes you, stop calling to babble," he said with frustration.

" _Shadow, sir,_ " a meek voice said over the line.

"My apologies. What is it? I'm busy," he said calmly and quietly.

" _Rouge went missing an hour ago. She needs to get back here to finish her treatment_ ," the nurse said with worry.

Shadow face palmed. "If it isn't one thing...I'll track her down when I'm done here."

" _Sir, I'm sorry, but it's urgent. Please, you should look for her now. She could die._ "

"Then she can get in line," Shadow huffed, "I'm being hunted. I'll look for her shortly," he said and hung up.

He teleported in front of Sonic and Amy's when the beast was upon them. "What the hell do you want?" Shadow asked from behind the monstrously sized hedgehog.

The large beast had a difficult time turning around on the narrow deck. It spit the large bush it clenched in it's teeth through the living room window. Glass, leaves and soil went everywhere in the house. Teeth bared, head lowered, it approached Shadow.

A light came on above the front door. "Stay inside!" Shadow yelled. He took a step back to edge them both away from the house.

It followed.

"What's going on?" Amy's quiet voice sounded from inside.

Knuckles peered through the small window in the door. "Aside from the tree in the living room, Shadow's fighting some kind of wolf-lookin thing." Sonic spoke to Knuckles from the shower but couldn't be heard outside. "...uh...yeah, it's black and red...yeah, claws and sharp teeth too...what do you mean experiments...what experiments in what ruins?"

Shadow recalled the photo's Sonic had made copies of. "Are you from the lab? Did we wake you?" he asked as he continued to back them away from the house.

It growled loudly.

"You can't talk at all? Or are you refusing to?" Shadow tried to open a link in the beast's mind. "You've got Black Arm genetics, you must be linked to the hivemind." Shadow failed at linking them completely.

The beast shook his head when he heard Shadow within his thoughts.

"That's good, you _can_ link up, you just don't know English." Shadow whistled and got the thing's attention again. He used sign language and asked, "Why are you here?"

It's expression softened slightly. He rose to his hind legs and responded with sign language, "Revenge."

"Revenge on whom?" Shadow asked.

"You and the other one who destroyed my home," he said with an angry inflection to his motions.

Knuckles spoke again. "...I don't know, he started moving his hands and speaking slowly. Then the big guy did the same thing back," Knuckles gave a play by play to Sonic and Amy who couldn't be there in person.

Shadow sighed. "Let's talk. I want to fix this for you," he said.

He nodded.

"You can open up now," Shadow said.

Knuckles opened the door and looked up to see the creature face to chest. He slowly looked over his shoulder to Amy in the bathroom, "Is this how you guys feel around me?" He backed out of the thing's way.

The beast hunched down to fit through the door. He stepped over the glass and bush mess and sat on the end of the sofa. He folded his arms and tapped an impatient foot.

Amy gasped. Her living room had been invaded by a werewolf version of Shadow and an uprooted, dented, hedge. "Knuckles, could you help him out of there now?" she said and handed Knuckles the towel.

He was off to help Sonic. "Is this guy a clone of you, or something?" Knuckles asked from the bathroom.

Shadow shook his head. "Not a clone, but we are genetically similar. First off, so I don't have to translate," he walked up in front of the beast. He spoke aloud and in sign language simultaneously, "I can give you the ability to speak if I touch your forehead."

"Bullshit," he signed.

"You and I are both of the Black Arm," Shadow said and pointed to the red stripe on his arm.

That name resonated with him. With a light growl he leaned forward and down for easier reach.

Shadow placed a palm on the guy's forehead. A subtle red light emitted from them. "There, I've programed you with the ability to speak English. What's this all about?" Shadow asked.

"Why the hell did you assholes destroy my home?" he asked in a deep gruff voice.

"Good, you programed in the most important words," Amy said and put her fists on her hips.

"He was upset. I assumed he'd want to vent," Shadow defended his position.

"Damn right, you gaggle of bastards," he said with a huff.

"And the huff, too? Geez, all he needs now is your snarky comebacks and an inflated ego, then he _is_ your clone," she said and grabbed a broom to deal with the bush portion of her home.

The big guy grinned with large white teeth. "Not quite," he said and showed her his red fingers.

"Cute," Amy said and went back to sweeping.

* * *

;P


	54. Chapter 54: Fixed Up

My roommate and I are putting a friend up for a while while they look for work in town. They refer to me as 'Boss'. I'm liking it. ;D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 54: Fixed Up-**_

* * *

Shadow showed Amy the back of his gloveless hand. "My markings stop before my wrists and ankles. Genetically, we're technically siblings, not clones."

Amy looked back and forth to spot differences between the picture Sonic took and Shadow sitting across from her. "It's uncanny. Your markings are the only way to tell you apart. Height, weight, age, eye colour; the reports say it's all the same." Amy moved off the couch so her partner could lay flat. She went to the kitchen.

Knuckles laid Sonic back down on his side. "Except for the whole 'werewolf' thing, you mean." He spun around and looked at Shadow. "Unless you can become a werewolf and haven't told anyone."

"I can't," Shadow said dryly.

Knuckles folded his arms. "I bet you're not even trying."

Shadow shook his head and looked at Sonic who was in a daze. "Is he always this dumb?"

"Uhh," Sonic didn't know how to respond.

Knuckles scoffed, "Man, this is tepid; you'd be surprised what the rolling boil of my full blown stupidity can accomplish." He made Shadow facepalm. "What's your name, anyway?" The big guy asked the bigger guy.

He shrugged. "I was only ever issued a number. I've long forgotten it. The doctor who oversaw my testing and who helped me escape the facility was a man named Hubert, or Hugh, for short. Call me that."

"Hugh, glad to meet ya, buddy. Also, really glad you aren't like the werewolves in the movies. You know, all wild and ragey," Knuckles said.

He laughed. "I am pretty wild. I lived out in the jungle all this time, so that doesn't lend itself to being or becoming civilized. I'm also absolutely livid that my home was destroyed; let's not rule out that 'rage' so quickly."

"I'm really sorry, we didn't mean to disturb you, Hugh," Sonic said. "We weren't prepared for the exploration. We not only damaged your property, but I was badly injured in the process. As soon as I'm up and running again, I'll help you rebuild."

"I accept your apology." Hugh sighed, "I didn't realize it was accidental. If you weren't there to hunt me down, why were you in there in the first place? It's been abandoned for fifty years or more."

Shadow spoke up. "That's confidential. All you need to know is we were locating lost property when we stumbled on records of you and the others. We intend to look into it further. I will require a testimony from you, for my report."

"What happened to your home?" Amy asked as she came in with a cool, wet rag and ice water. She laid the cloth on Sonic's head and coaxed him into taking a drink.

"A wall collapsed in the lower portion of the temple long ago. I used it for storing supplies because of how dry it usually was. This afternoon sometime, the whole ceiling caved in and washed away most of my food stores and flooded the place I normally sleep. I'm glad I was out when it all happened, I'd have been crushed."

"You're free to stay on our couch until we can get you a place of your own. Or until your old place dries out," Sonic said.

Amy walked back to the kitchen and looked horrified. She whispered, "Chaos control." Time froze.

Shadow was unaffected. "What the hell?" He looked around and saw that Amy was able to move too. "Are you doing that?"

Amy nodded as she sat down next to him. "Yes. I only need to talk for a minute. I need your-"

"Hold on a damn minute, since when are you able to use that power?!" Shadow wasn't pleased she was being so nonchalant with a feat that took him years to master.

"I powered up with the chaos tech from the ruins a couple years ago. I've been practicing," she said and revealed her cyan chaos jem. It floated and spun above her palm when she called it forth.

He smirked. "I didn't know you had one of those."

The jem vanished back into her essence. "I know you have one too."

Shadow held his palm up and a red jem revealed itself.

"Hah, of course you'd have the red one. Everyone on the team has one, except for Jules. We're working on that though."

The crimson jewel vanished. "Why are we talking right now?"

"Hugh needs a bath."

Shadow's eye twitched, "You used the power of 'chaos control' to complain about poor hygiene?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Do YOU want someone who looks that much like you walking around town smelling like that?"

Shadow was silenced. He huffed and folded his arms, ashamed of his own vanity. "No."

"I wouldn't either. I certainly don't want my house smelling like that." She clapped her hands together once. "Okay, tomorrow, when he's no longer in beast mode, I need you to grab him and get him in the bath. I'll have it already drawn and ready to go."

He nodded. "Use lightly scented cleaners. If he's never used soap, something with a lot of perfumes in it could overwhelm his senses," Shadow suggested.

"Or irritate his skin. I looked over the reports and Hugh's got a lot of allergies," Amy said.

"I'll be here shortly before sunrise. He may try to make a break for it."

Amy laughed, "You're really on board with the idea he may try to refuse to get a bath."

"Hydrophobia was a common trait among the copies."

"Were you hydrophobic once too?" Amy sounded surprised.

"I was considered the ultimate lifeform for a reason; a phobia would have disqualified me," he lied convincingly.

"Duly noted," she said and went back to her spot in the kitchen. "Sonic had just offered our couch to the new guy, and...scene," she said and let time flow freely again.

Hugh picked up as though nothing happened. "That would help a lot. I'd also appreciate a bit of help getting food that'll last the dry months. I had a lot of dried meats that were damaged in the flood."

They talked about a few different things that needed to be addressed before they turned in for bed.

Hugh curled up in the corner on a blanket. Sonic took up a couch that Knuckles pushed closer to the bathroom door. Staying in the bedroom meant a longer trip to the bathroom, so he camped out in the living room with their guest.

The next day, Hugh stood on the sand as the first rays of the day reached his fur. When the morning light was upon him, the 'werehog', as he called it, wore off. His limbs shrunk and shifted. "Son of a bitch!" Hugh yelled and panted as his body reverted to being a regular sized hedgehog. He dropped to his knees and eventually to his side as he held his jaw. "The teeth are the worst! It's like combination of a jackhammer in my face and scraping my teeth across a chalkboard."

Amy went to his side and helped him up. "Maybe a nice warm bath would make you feel better?"

He shook his head. "No thanks."

"Do I have to fight to get you in the bath? You're a grown man," she said.

"You're pregnant, you shouldn't be fighting anyone," he said as he got to his feet to catch his breath.

" _I_ won't," she said with inflection.

"What do you mean-?" Hugh was cut off by Shadow teleporting in front of him and grabbing his shoulders.

"Sorry about this," he said and teleported them both over the bath Amy had made ready in the house.

She heard a splash, a bit of yelling and then the excitement quickly subsided. Reentering the house revealed Shadow in the tub behind Hugh vigorously scrubbing his head. "Have some damn pride in your appearance, would you?" he pulled a twig from his quills and tossed it aside and kept the bubbles lathering.

"I did have pride! Pride in the fact I was undetectable by most predators. Now I stink like fermented flower piss and industrial cleaner. At least when they find me an eat me, I won't taste good." Hugh folded his arms and held a sour expression. "And if you try to clip my nails, I'm out of here. I'll come back on the next full moon and eat everybody."

Amy pointed to a spot on one of the copied reports she displayed from her wrist communicator. "No you won't, you're allergic to most animal proteins."

He sighed and swiped some bubbles out from in front of him. "Rats. I need my claws to climb."

Shadow held a nail brush out for him to use. "You don't need to climb while you're in town. Scrub them, at least," he demanded.

Sonic slowly rounded the corner and saw Amy watching Shadow bathe with Hugh. "You know what...nope..." He turned around, "I'm not even gonna ask," he said and laid back down.

* * *

Get it...Shadow and Hugh(Hue)? I thought it was clever. XD


	55. Chapter 55: Healing

Hugh is a chill dude. I'm tossing an idea around in my head for a spin off. :D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 55: Healing-**_

* * *

Amy rubbed Sonic's cheek as he laid on the couch. It was warm to the touch. "You're a bit dehydrated. I'll make some coffee for us."

"Water for me. These painkillers make me feel like crap." He scratched at his face. "When they're done, can you get the clippers and help me with this?" He ruffled the impending beard on his chin. "I should've did it yesterday." He'd been working with the gang on Knuckles home and neglected to groom his facial hair.

Amy nodded and got the grounds out. "Sure." She looked in the bathroom from beyond the kitchen counter. "You guys want coffee?"

Shadow didn't look up from what he was doing, "Black."

Hugh, from beneath a seething mass of bubbles said, "Black and a bit of sugar, if you have any."

"Of course," she said and awaited the brewer that now chugged along.

"Thanks. Sugar wasn't something the lab let us have very often, and you don't find too much of it lying around the jungle. Save for careless campers leaving things behind."

"There were more of you?" Sonic asked from the couch outside the bathroom door.

"Yes. Half a dozen of us were in that facility at one point. I know there were more labs, but I couldn't put a number on it." He had his head tilted back and the removable shower head rinsed off most of the lather without harming his eyes.

Shadow was unsatisfied with the result. He began again from a different angle so Hugh could drink his coffee. "What were they trying to accomplish?" he asked as the bubbles began again.

"They were evaluating the healing capabilities of the 'were' form. What about you?"

Shadow nodded. "Similar angle; they were trying to find a way to cure any illness. They succeeded," he informed him.

"Oh, so you're the ultimate lifeform they were going for then, huh? I bet this looks impressive on your resume: Bathing your savage brother while he drinks coffee served to him by your rival's partner." He took the hot beverage from Amy, "Thank you," and took an airy sip.

"Shut up. You aren't savage, you're just off. And how did you know Sonic and I are rivals?" Shadow asked.

"I've been dabbling in that hivemind thing you pulled last night," he said with a grin.

Shadow scrubbed harder, "Stay out of my head."

"Alright, geez, my quills are going to fall out." He laid the cup on the side of the tub. "Anyway, based on context from what I recall, the project started in space and moved to Mobius after they tried to terminate the project the first time. They managed to keep the labs operational for about ten years, before they were finally shut down for good. At the end of it, there were only three of us left. Myself, a guy from a nearby lab and a female. I don't know what happened to them. They left the jungle after the raid."

Amy perked up. "A female Black Arm hybrid?"

"Yeah," Hugh said.

Shadow huffed. "Ophelia."

Hugh was shocked. "You knew her?! Were they trying to breed her then, too?"

Sonic and Amy listened in closely and coyly with a tilted ear.

"Yes. I was having no part in that sort of thing. She was a psycho," Shadow said.

"And probably still is," Hugh said with a chuckle. "She liked to brag about how she once ate a guard."

Shadow corrected the story. "She didn't eat all of him; mostly his liver. He survived."

Sonic and Amy exchanged a horrified glance.

"I figured she was exaggerating. She also changed her name to Barb."

"Why?"

"Because when she reached her adult form, she developed a venomous spine at the end of her tail. She could dose people numb, or to sleep, or stop their heart. She felt the name Barb would be funny. The day she figured it out, she nearly escaped by knocking out her handlers."

"How did she manage that?" Amy asked, curious as to how a hedgehog tail could behave as such.

Shadow filled in the blanks. "Sexual dimorphism. Female Black Arms have a long, prehensile tail, which is barbed and venomous, apparently."

"It's kind of like a hook, it can latch to things," Hugh said and bent his finger in a fishhook shape, "And it's retractable."

"Charming," Amy said with fear.

Sonic was scratching his cheeks again.

"I'll help you shave when things calm down here," she said and rubbed his shoulder.

After Shadow's obsessive compulsion was saited, he and Hugh dried off with a couple towels. "What happened to you anyway?" Hugh asked Sonic who was attempting to drink water through the straw at the side of his mouth. "I can smell blood. Are you sure you dressed your wounds properly?"

Sonic held his side and looked at the two sitting across from him. "I went to the hospital to get this taken care of. I got it when I was holding a glass...uh, 'something' with blue 'something' inside, it busted and stuck me. It's a really rough wound. They said it'll take a while to heal." His speech was noticeably slower and strained.

Hugh thought back to his time in the lab. "Probably a blue chaos energy container. It's not a solid, a liquid or a gas, it's plasma. It's the stuff they pumped me full of to get me to transform."

Amy handed Shadow his drink then sat next to Sonic, "Maybe you can transform now too."

Hugh looked at Sonic's face. "You are looking rougher than you were last night. Facial hair growth is a side effect of the procedure." He held a palm facing up. "Hey, the moon should be full enough tonight again to illicit a transformation. You'd heal in a matter of minutes. Though busting all those stitches is going to be painful."

"Wait...what?" Sonic tried to process the news.

"Yeah. You might have the ability to transform into a werehog during the full moon, or if you work at it, during moments of extreme anger. I used to be able to do that, but I live a pretty peaceful life, save for last night."

"That's right," Shadow remembered, "I should contact Barker and let him know you aren't hunting him down." They all sat in silence while no one moved. "...I'll do it when I'm done," he said and took a sip of his drink.

"Is it really that simple?" Sonic asked as he again touched the hair on his face. It was longer than he expected it to be after only a few days of letting it go.

"I wouldn't call the way you did it 'simple'. I had it injected with a needle or an IV; that's simple. You flayed yourself with shattered, tempered glass and poured chaos plasma into the open wound," Hugh corrected him. "It's going to have been a full twenty four hours by the time the moon is out again and when you got your injury. I'd say it's worth a try."

Sonic looked worried. "Is this contagious?"

Hugh laughed. "This isn't the movies and it's not a curse. The only way to contract it is receiving the plasma directly. They did plenty of experiments to see if there was any other way of transmission." He nodded to himself and took another drink of coffee. "One scientist, bless his heart, tested it on himself. He sat me down in my transformed state, stuck me with a needle, drew my blood and then proceeded to mainline it into his own body." He shrugged, "He didn't transform, but the nanomachines in my blood cured his ulcer." Hugh sipped his drink. "Sugar is so good. I'm going to have to get some from you before I go."

Shadow was lost in thought.

"I'd like to know where do the movies come up with this stuff about 'were' forms." Hugh chuckled again, "I read a book where someone transformed into a werewolf by drinking water out of the footprint of an existing werewolf. It's bizarre."

"What other kinds of ways did they try? Airborne? Bites? Mental manipulation?" Amy started throwing out words she'd read off the reports.

"Yeah, stuff like that. Though I can't say what else they tried," he said with a reflective glance into his past.

"Why not?" she asked.

Hugh held a cheek and looked bashful, "Because it'll make me blush."

"Oh," Amy said with a chuckle.

"Heh, despite what you may have seen from the reports and pictures, it wasn't always a bad time in the lab," Hugh said with a wide grin.

After they were finished, on the way out the door, Hugh turned around. "When I'm done talking to this Barker fellow, I'll go get you some things from the jungle that'll help you feel better. I know a lot of herbs that are more effective at relieving pain than the synthetic stuff. I can make it into a tea that tastes pretty good, too."

"If it'll work, I'll give it a try," Sonic said weakly.

Shadow walked Hugh to Belinda and Charlie's home. He gave a brief rundown of what Barker was all about and why he did what he did the night before. "Overall, don't be too aggressive?" Hugh asked.

"I don't care. These vialians are a joke," he said and laid a heavy knock on the door.

Charlie answered. "Shadow, come on in. Did you manage to find out what's going on?"

"I don't have time. Where's Barker?" he asked sternly.

Barker got up from the kitchen table. "Hopefully you come bearing good news," he said with folded hands.

"This is Hugh," Shadow said and stepped out of the way to reveal the properly groomed black and red hedgehog. "He wants to clear up any misunderstandings. I'll leave you to it." He walked a short distance away and teleported to the hospital to see Rouge.

He teleported directly to her room and shocked the two women arguing. Rouge was sitting on the edge of her bed with a nurse begging her to stay. "Please, Shadow, talk some sense into her," she said and let go of Rouge's hands.

"I'm fine," she said and looked at Shadow. "I told them to take another x-ray, I'm not sick anymore. I want to leave." She folded her arms and gave a frustrated sigh. "I appreciate the concern and all, but I'm feeling great."

"Do you have any immediate scars you can recall?" Shadow asked her a strange question.

Rouge tilted her head to the side. "What are you talking about?"

"Scars? An injury that's left a permanent mark," he clarified.

"I know what scars are, dear," she said and began to examine her hands and arms. "Hmm," she had difficulty locating any. She stuck her legs out and rotated them to look for knicks in her fur, indicating a scar. "Huh...that's odd." She lifted her gown and examined her lower abdomen. "Okay, no, I know I had one there. What the hell?"

Shadow sighed. "Get discharge forms," he said to the nurse.

The nurse nodded and left the room silently.

"What's happening to me?" Rouge asked.

Shadow pulled the medicine IV from her hand. A small bead of blood formed. With a tissue he grabbed from her bedside, he wiped it away. "...look," he said and returned her hand to her.

Rouge looked at the spot the IV had stuck her. Before her eyes, she watched the small spot on her hand disappear. "I reiterate: What the hell?"

"It occurs to me the nanomachines in my body that help me heal...may have been passed on to you." Shadow said with a hint of blush on his face.

Rouge pieced it together. "Like...an STD...but good?"

"Essentially."

"That's pretty neat. I imagine I need to get my ears repierced every time I want to wear earrings now. Not that I wear them often." She felt the holes in her ears had also healed over. Shadow went to remove the other IV when Rouge stopped him. She hit the button to release morphine, "One for the road," she said with a devious smile and flopped back onto the bed.

The nurse came back, they signed Rouge out and took leave. "If all my wounds have healed...and my scar tissue turned back into regular flesh...does this mean...any missing organs may have grown back?"

"It's going to undo your hysterectomy," he said.

Rouge held her stomach. "Will...will it be normal when it grows back? Or deformed, like the first one?"

Shadow shrugged. "I'm not sure. But if that's the case, we can't be together anymore. If you become impregnated I have no idea how to deal with it."

"No one does," Rouge laughed. "I thought you wanted kids."

"I meant adoption," he said. "A pregnancy from someone of the Black Arm would kill you."

"How?" she asked with worry.

"Gestation is only seventy two hours. After that, a hunger sets in; if you don't have the resources to feed a child of the Black Arm, it'll devour you and anyone in sight to grow to maturity. There was a reason I was grown in a lab and have inhibitor rings. A newborn would be too unpredictable. I'm sorry Rouge, but the fun has to end here."

Rouge smiled warmly. "Understandable...it was nice to know you had fun though."

Later on that evening, when the moon was high, the whole gang, including Shadow and Rouge, gathered around to bear witness to a potential transformation. Knuckles fired up the barbecue for the occasion and was slow roasting a brisket along with skewers and hotdogs.

Hugh helped Sonic get on position. "Fingers crossed," Hugh said.

Sonic looked up at the moon brightly lighting the night sky for a moment. "It's really pretty...but I don't think it's working."

"It was worth a shot," he said and sat him back down. "There is a chance I'm wrong and it's not full enough. I know there's three days that you should be able to transform on." He handed Sonic the cup of tea he'd brewed. "No matter, this should help for now."

Sonic had only taken half a pill for the occasion. He took a drink. "This is really good. What's in it?"

Hugh shrugged. "No clue. I know it works though."

He laughed, "If you managed to live in the jungle this long, I'm sure you know what you're doing."

As they chatted and Knuckles fried meats, Sonic began to feel strange. "I'm kind of dizzy," he said.

"Is it the drink?" Amy asked.

"Probably. I did make it kind of strong," Hugh said.

Sonic laid the cup on the table. He held his head.

"You haven't eaten much today," Amy said as she went over to comfort him. "Knuckles, is anything finished cooking he can eat right now?"

"I think," he went over to the grill.

Sonic looked up to where Knuckles was. As he opened the barbecue, a reflection of the moon hit his eye. Sonic gasped and his eyes went wide.

"What?" Amy asked and grabbed his shoulder.

"I'm...don't..." Sonic tried to speak but couldn't. The next bit of light to hit his eye was reflected off the ocean. A huge pulse of pressure sent Sonic to the ground.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked as she tried to keep him from rolling off into the sand.

Sonic's limbs lengthened and bulked out. His spine and frame arched and grew. His fur lengthened and faded into a slate blue with white tipped quills. His jaw nearly unhinged as his teeth swelled and became pointed. The whole process left Sonic on all fours, panting and drooling from pain. A newly clawed hand reached up and held the bloody spot where every stitch had busted. Blood coated his hand. His mind still with him, he did his best to hunch over the puddle of red liquid. "Don't look, Amy," he said with a gruff tone.

Amy had been backed away and protected by the whole group.

"Are you still with us?" Hugh leaned down and asked.

Sonic nodded as he held his side.

Hugh looked at the wound and saw it was coming together. "Stay still, you're healing." He gave them the all clear, "We're good," he said and a collective sigh came from the crowd.

"I was debating putting on the second brisket, but now, I regret not doing it," Knuckles said as he looked at Sonic's new form. "You're going to have a hell of an apatite after all that."

* * *

Love me some werewolves. ;P


	56. Chapter 56: The Werehog's Curse

I'm starting a spinoff. I want to write stuff for the villains, but I can't really fit them in my fic any more than I already have. I'll get a few more chapters written before I post anything.

Something that Barker said in the second season got me thinking about how large Seaside Island really is. In the episode 'Muckfoot', Barker says he's taking Knuckles around to ten cities. Why ten? I believe there are at least ten settlements on the island(I come from a small island and there's WAY more than ten settlements there). He also states that 'Of course it's Knuckles. You can't con a conman. I recognize an echidna covered in mud when I see one'. This tells me that Barker's seen an echidna that 'isn't' Knuckles before.

That was actually the episode that sparked me to write this fic in the first place; along with 'Knuck, Knuck! Who's Here?' and 'Three Men and My Baby'.

Now y'all see why this fic started out focusing on Knuckles so much. ;P

On with the show!

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 56: The Werehog's Curse-**_

* * *

Sonic sat on the cold ground and waited for the healing process to finish. He removed Amy's broken sandals from around his ankles, the remainder of his busted sports tape and his shredded gloves. Knuckles hosed the blood from the grass to the water below the house. "How does it look?" Sonic asked with his deepend voice.

Tails examined his friend. Flesh healed completely around his stitches. "It's like it happened years ago. There's only some scarring." Tails gave Sonic a hand up.

Hugh said, "They learned the werehog form could heal, but it did nothing to reform scar tissue. The nanomachines in my body are why I heal without scarring."

Knuckles put the hose away. "How come Sonic's not as big as you were?" He stood up straight in front of Sonic. They were both roughly the same height. Sonic's fluffed out quills made it harder to determine exactly who was taller than who.

Tails hovered to get a view straight on. "I think Sonic's a little taller than you, but definitely not as big as Hugh's transformation." He landed again.

"I had multiple injections. They found a cap though. I'm as big as a werehog can get," Hugh said.

Sonic looked at his clawed hands. "Not that I mind it all that much, but did they find a way to cure this?" he asked as he touched his furrier face.

"Not that I'm aware of, sorry. You'll have to avoid looking at full moon's from now on." he said.

"A small price to pay, I guess; I do feel a lot stronger. And I'm sure this'll come in handy someday." Sonic's stomach growled loudly enough for everyone to hear. He held his gut in pain. "I need food. I don't think I ate much, if anything, today." He looked at the barbecue and noticed how much food they had. "I'll let you guys have that stuff, I'd need to eat it all. I'm going to Meh Burger." He turned to leave.

Rouge spoke up, "Are you sure you want to be seen like that, darling?" She held out a small pocket mirror for Sonic to view himself with.

Sonic glimpsed his reflection for the first time. "Holy crap, I'm a fright," he said and touched his sharply pointed ears and teeth. The scarf he wore was tight around his throat. He gave Rouge her mirror. "I have an idea," he said and unknotted the neck accessory. He kept his teeth together and spoke, "We can tell people it's a costume if I don't open my mouth."

"Any opportunity wherein you keep your mouth shut is an improvement," Shadow snarked.

"Ha-ha," he said sarcastically. "Someone should probably come with me, in case my explanation of what's happening isn't believable." Sonic smiled sheepishly.

Tails, Hugh and Rouge tagged along while the others enjoyed the roasted food Knuckles had made.

Rouge sighed.

"What's wrong?" Tails asked.

"It's not fair," she sounded a little down. "He goes exploring once and gets impressive werehog abilities. Me? I get pneumonia. Unfair," she said with a chuckle.

They made it to the counter of Meh Burger. A couple people stared, but no one ran in terror. "Ten chilidogs and regret sized fries to go, please," he said through his wide, immobile smile. Dave didn't move. "Yo, Dave, you in there?" Sonic waved at him with a smile.

"Sonic? Is that a costume?" Dave stood back from the counter as far as he could go. He remembered Barker's werewolf encounter from the previous night. "Because it looks real. Too real," he said with fear.

He pretended to fluff his collar. "Why, thank you. I made it myself," he said and tried not to laugh at Tails and Rouge snickering behind him.

They got their order and headed back to the house.

Along the way, Hugh spoke up, "I do appreciate the gesture of you offering your home, but Barker's going to put me up permanently in exchange for my services."

"You know the man is as crooked as an eleven dollar bill," Rouge said.

Hugh nodded. "I'm aware. That's why I'm writing a contract for him to sign, instead of the other way around. I told him if he tries anything to break it, I'll eat him," he said with a laugh.

"You can't though; your allergies," Sonic said.

"He doesn't know that," Hugh said as he broke off from the crew. "See you tomorrow Tails. We're working on that device, aren't we?"

"Yeah. See you then," Tails said and waved.

"Device?" Sonic asked.

"Barker wants to see if we can simulate full moon light to trigger the werehog form. It'd be easier if he could transform more than three nights a month," Tails said.

They got back to the barbecue and the hours ticked late into the evening. Everyone finally said their goodbyes and left for their respective homes.

"You've been awfully quiet, Ames...is everything alright?" Sonic asked as he followed her into the house.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Nothing's bothering me," she said calmly.

Sonic felt she wasn't being honest. "Come on, I know when you've got something on your mind. Talk to me. You thought that telling me all the stuff about the war and the royal family visit was going to bother me, and it didn't. This won't either," he said as he slinked up behind her for a hug.

Amy turned around and placed a hand in the middle of his chest to push him away.

He took a step back. "Sorry. I know this form isn't the most attractive thing in the world. I'll keep my paws to myself until morning."

"That's not it." She calmly went to the closet, shuffled through some things and emerged with an old book. It was a journal of sorts. "Here," she said and handed it to him.

Within the pages was Amy's handwriting. "What is this?"

Amy's hands were behind her back as she swirled her foot around on the floor. She smiled shyly. "Read it. You'll see." They sat down on the couch.

Sonic read, "Nature's Gift, by Amy Rose." He cleared his throat, "Deep within the jungles of Seaside Island, I trudged through the thick underbrush. With no map on hand, I finally had to admit I was lost. Exploring the land was an exciting way to find new temples to raid, but a tumble down a hill had relieved me of most of my gear. I had only my small bag over my shoulder. With a day's worth of rations and at least two days between me and home, I needed to find more food." He read on until he got to a 'certain' part during a scene when Amy's character tried her hand at hunting. "..."

"What?" she asked with a wide grin.

Sonic's eyebrows flexed upward. "That's when I realized I was the one being hunted. The small animal was merely a decoy to lure me into the open. When I looked up, there he was. He stood in front of me...with...a huge..."

"Hmm, a little louder," Amy said with a hand up to her ear. "I can't hear you."

"...Amy...is this werewolf porn?" he asked with a blush.

She got up and took the book from him. "I had a phase a while ago." She flipped to the middle of the book and clamped her finger in between two pages.

"That book looks new," he said and was stood up by his partner.

"A few years ago, ish," she said as she spun him around.

"You're still writing this kind of stuff? We've been together for over six years now," he said as he was being shoved toward the bedroom.

"There are still some things you can and can't do, and that's fine. I have my fantasies. However, this one is no longer a fantasy, so I'm cashing in." She gave him one final shove onto the bed. "I wrote a version of Little Red Riding Hood I want to act out." She revealed the page she marked with her finger.

"Is that so," he said and took the book from her.

She mounted him. "Yep. There's no grandma in this one. You get to eat me instead," she said and kicked the door shut behind her.

The next day, Sonic sat at Meh Burger. He looked pleased. "I was thinking. We probably should have moved the house last night. My werehog form is really strong. We'd get it done in no time."

Knuckles shrugged. "No worries. Between me, Jules and Xaun, I think we'll manage."

After lunch everyone went to Knuckles hut and helped with the expansion. The split went swimmingly. A few rollers in strategic locations helped them shift the structure over to fit the new foundation. They all worked together to get the walls and the roof done before it got too late.

Rouge and Shadow stopped in after their day was done to lend an additional hand. "It's so big in here now," Jules said as she walked over the newly laid hardwood floor they traded the backyard trees for.

"It's more than double the size," Amy's voice echoed as she too looked around the big empty building. "What are you going to do with the tree? Anything?" She referenced the original tree in the middle front half of the house.

"I was thinking about carving it and putting a hole in the middle," Xaun said.

"Ohh, that'll look nice," Amy said as she pat the spot on the tree Sonic's dartboard used to be. His dartboard now hung in their living room. She held a hand on her belly as the two critters within shuffled.

Rouge could see the movement from where she stood across the room. "That's got to be uncomfortable."

"Only sometimes, like when one of them wedges themself under my ribs," she said with a chuckle.

Sonic doubled over in pain and dropped a container of nails. They clattered against the floor. He held his jaw as it grew along with the rest of him. He growled as his growing frame snapped his new sports tape and clothing.

"What's happening?" Shadow asked and peered through the remaining roof opening he was working on.

Everyone stood around in silence as their presence was once again graced with a werehog.

Sonic looked at his gloves, "Dammit, that's the second pair of gloves this week!" He looked at his shoes, "And a second pair of shoes! Shit!" Sonic sat down and removed the torn footwear, gloves and tape once again. "Looks like I don't need the moon to do this." He flopped back and laid on the floor with an arm over his eyes. "Fuck."

* * *

Teehee. ;P


	57. Chapter 57: Varying Views

Kay, so, the last scene in the previous chapter didn't save properly, apparently. I had to go in and fix it. It's only some minor framing and wording in the last few dozen lines, but it bugged me too much to not go back and fix it. DX

Time for some plot building. XoX

Who's up for religious overtones, and or, undertones? *sneaky sneaky*

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 57: Varying Views-**_

* * *

With arms out at his sides, a blank stare and shifting eyes, "We're all cool with this?" Xaun asked a crowd of speechless folks. "Is this new? Was I not supposta' know? Come on! Someone, throw me a bone here," he looked to them for answers. "Don't eat me," he said sheepishly.

"I'm still in here," Sonic said with a sigh and rose to his feet, clawed hands up in surrender. "It's new, we weren't actively telling anyone, and some of us are more 'cool' with it than others," he said and made quick, sly, side eyes at Amy.

"Heh," she giggle, unnoticed, with a blush.

"Is this why your injury's gone? Werewolf healing powers?" Xaun asked.

Sonic was initially shocked, but then remembered Xaun and Sticks initially bonded over an interest in aliens. It made sense that he had knowledge of other things paranormal. "Yes. We have a few ideas as to why I transform, but nothing concrete," Sonic said and looked to Sticks. "You've been pretty silent about this situation; I figured you'd be the first to say something."

Sticks shrugged, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it. A self-aware werehog on the team sounds like a win to me."

Xaun nodded, "Solid point; it does have its drawbacks though. I've done a lot of research on lycanthropy in the past, I can probably fill in a few blanks. Not saying I can cure it, but I may know of a way to better monitor the transformations. I only suggest that because _this_ incident was obviously unintended," he suggested.

"This isn't the movies, Xaun," Jules said.

"I know. I'm going off information on werewolves from before movies. Things like silver bullets, patient zero and biting as a method of transmission are all works of the movie industry. Generally, to become a werewolf, you need to be cursed by someone or some object, hereditary factors like family curses, magic spells...uh, let me think," Xaun trailed off to ponder.

"What about scientific experimentation?" Sonic asked.

Xaun squinted his eyes and considered the notion. "How scientific are we talkin? As in, you're using _actual_ scientific methods, like metamorphosis, to induce a werewolf like state? Or, are you using magic to accomplish this and you're unaware it's magic? Depending on who's using said magic, it can sometimes look like technology."

Everyone looked at eachother and thought about it.

Jules was the first to speak up, "I'm gonna throw this out there: I tend to 'black and white' these kind of things. I say it's the second one. It's magic, but looks like science."

Tails interjected, "Eggman tested the other vials that looked like the one Sonic broke. They both had the same properties of Sonic and Hugh's blood in their transformed states. The other chaos instruments that were retrieved from the ruins, didn't. It has to be science in some respect."

"Just because you can use science stuff to detect magic, doesn't immediately make magic into science." Jules carried her own belief on chaos energy. "What this tells me is that some scientists took chaos magic and werewolf magic and 'scienced' them together," Jules said as she smacked both of her palms off one another.

"I don't think you can use 'science' as a verb," Amy said to herself.

"I can and I will," she said and put her fists on her hips.

"Regardless, I guess you _could_ put it that way," Tails shrugged.

"For what it's worth, I prefer to think it's magic," Sonic said. "I kind of get the feeling that if this is science, I'm not gonna be able to undo it. If it's magic, there's a chance of 'magicing' my way out. Whether this is like the movies or not, I've watched enough of them to know the line 'what has science done?!' is a 'can't come back from it' scenario."

Shadow interjected sense to the pointlessness. "If you and Hugh both have the same indicators in your blood, why don't you both need the moon to transform? He also said you can potentially transform in a state of anger. I'm sure those things factor in, too, be it magic or tech. Hold on, I'll speak with Hugh," he said. Shadow touched his temple with four fingers and opened a hivemind link to his genetic brother. "Alright...he says he tried to transform last night and couldn't. That three day window apparently means nothing for you."

"That _does_ widdle down our possibilities. Moon and nighttime transformations have their own origins in the history boks," Xaun said.

"He also tells me he was on the space station when he transformed for the first time. He was moved to Mobius shortly afterward. Environmental cues could play a role; position of the sun on the horizon or your biological clock could be doing this at the same time each day, whereas Hugh has a visual trigger. Though it seemed like you transformed randomly after the sun was down, I doubt it was random. What time was it? Did you get a receipt for the food you ordered?"

Xaun hooked a thumb at Shadow, "This guy's good."

Sonic looked at his communicator and accessed his funds. "...you're onto something. The times line up. I transformed about a half hour before I ordered food. That's healing time and the walk there all adding up to around...half past eight."

"We won't know if it's based on the sun until the seasons change; or if you go travelling," Xaun suggested. "We'll have to make more observations over the next few days before we can figure out how to deal with it."

"I did notice something this morning," Amy said. "He didn't transform back to normal at the crack of dawn, like Hugh. Our room is pretty dark, and it may have only been timing, but he only turned back when he hit the sunlight. We'll see tomorrow morning which one it is. Oh, and would Hugh have changed back if he stayed out of the sun, as Sonic did."

"There's a lot of possibilities, but I think I have more than enough to start looking this up. These are all useful facts," Xaun said as he turned to Sticks. "Read any good books lately?"

She shook her head, "Not lately. I'll be able to hunt something down, for sure."

"Please do. Thank you, guys." Sonic looked a bit discouraged. "If this is going to be a nightly thing, I'm gonna miss the luau tomorrow. Oh well," he said and put his arm around Amy and gave her a nuzzle, "I'll stay in and bug you for the evening."

She hugged his chest and could barely get her arms all the way around. "I did want to sketch some art of this new form. If you end up finding a cure, I want the chance to flex my ability to draw you like this, in person."

"Heh, I bet, mon cheri. I'll wear only this," he said and gave a devious smirk.

"Nearly seven years and you're still flirting? Looks like Amy's the powder keg and werehog's are sparks," Tails said and made Amy blush again.

"What was that?" Rouge asked, having missed the joke.

"Something billious," Shadow told her.

She shrugged, "I have no idea what that word means."

Sonic cleared his throat, "Ahem, anyway, we should finish up," he said and referenced the half finished hardwood floor.

Xaun laughed, "I kind of want to go research this, right now. Are you alright with me taking off?"

"Same," Sticks said.

"Me too," Tails added.

Knuckles nodded, "Go for it."

Sonic waved a hand. "We can finish up here," he said and looked at the hammer he used earlier. It had flown across the room when he accidentally went werehog. Sonic reached out and extended his arm nearly the full length of the house. He grabbed it and brought it back to his person. Mouth open in amazement, he looked at hammer in his hand and back to the group of baffled people, several times, uttering no words as he did so.

"Do that again!" Tails exclaimed and took and threw the hammer.

Sonic caught it mid air, several feet away. He stood there, abreast with silent laughter at the discovery of his new ability. He stretched his arms out in a few different directions. "Are you all seeing this?!" He stretched an arm out the open door, latched onto the sand and pulled his large body away from the construction zone. "I'm clocking out early, too! I've gotta go launch myself around the jungle for a while. Love to stay! Can't! Jungle's calling me! Byeeeee!" he said and disappeared into the trees.

Everyone heard a low howl in the distance.

"See you all tomorrow," Xaun waved and left with Sticks and Tails.

"See you," Amy waved back.

"I'm not leaving until I'm done," Shadow said and walked to the entrance of the hut. "I can't stand to leave a job half finished." He climbed a beam back up to the top of the building. Rouge and Amy followed, to bundle then hand up the roof grass.

"Thanks, everyone, I really appreciate all the help," Knuckles said, heart full of warmth that Shadow wanted to help too.

"You earned it." Shadow spoke from the roof. "I'll give credit where credit's due: That brisket last night, was really damn good. You got respect points, Knuckles," he said and went back to construction of the roof.

Knuckles heart fluttered at the fact Shadow didn't mess up his name as Eggman always had. "I got one more in the fridge. I can throw it on and it'll be done in an hour," he eagerly suggested.

Shadow smiled. "I'm not going to refuse. Let's do it."

Knuckles placed the tinfoiled meat on slow cook over the woodstove while they worked. With Knuckles and Jules on hardwood floor duty, the other three on roof duty, the hut was completed in time to enjoy a feast of tender meats and toasted dinner rolls.

* * *

And a'nudder wun dun. ;D


	58. Chapter 58: Forced

I figure since I'm bastardizing everything that is 'cannon', I might as well throw my own lore in there. I'm loosely basing it on actual werewolf lore, but yes, I AM pulling it out of my ass.

The way I look at any and all fanfiction for this franchise, be it game, show or comic, they're all different dimensions(or 'zones' as the comics call it). Each zone has endless possibilities and combinations.

The one with Scourge has Sonic as a murderous psychopath, so let's not pretend anything I did is too 'out there'.

I remind myself: I'm doing this for funzies. XD

Peace out.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 58: Forced-**_

* * *

Tails tightened the final bolt on his new machine. "I'll recheck everything before we get started." He went under the console and made sure the power sources for the UV lights were operational.

A semi-flat, fake celestial body sat atop metal scaffolding. It had a large stone face made of gypsum with a pattern designed to look exactly like the light side of the moon. Atop the gypsum, a series of clear, flat, five sided jems coated its surface in a polished, parabolic arch. The clear stones reflected light in a way that only allowed it to go forward. Wires attached to the back fed into Tails machine, on the ground below.

"What if this doesn't work? It feels like a lot of work gone to waste," Barker asked as he kicked the base of the device for stability. It was a solid brick of a machine. Dozens of bundled cords protruded from its side and led to the structure above.

"Then I double up. I have enough television stone to make a second moon. I'll make two moons and think of a way to combine their UV energy, like, reflecting it off water," Tails said and pat the top of the silver box console. "If _that_ doesn't work, I take out the lights and repurpose them as satellites. The town commissioned me to make some soon, anyway," he said and turned to Hugh. "Time to get in position."

Hugh grumbled and stood up from his front row seat.

"I remind you, _you_ were the one who offered to work here in the first place. Free of charge and not against your will, I might add. I'm still trying to make sense of that," Barker said with arms folded out of boredom and confusion.

He walked towards centre ring of the large tent. "I know. I'm not too thrilled about this working. Controlling the transformation means I have to transform back every morning."

Tails closed the panel and latched it shut. "The difference between Sonic's transformed state and yours isn't that vast. Apart from size and triggers, you both go through the process of your bones growing and shifting. Sonic said it's painful, but not as painful as you described."

"Getting there is fine, going back is the worst," Hugh said.

"I have a theory why you experience such severe pain. You use the first light of the day to turn back. Sonic and Amy sleep in a darkened room where there's no light until a door or window is opened. He tested it again this morning by waiting until it was nearly nine. We were right, he needs sunlight to change back. I'm hoping if we can get you to transform, the light of mid-morning eases the transition." Tails readied his hand on the switch so he wouldn't lose it in the dark. "Ready?"

"Yes," Hugh said.

"Hit the lights," Tails said to Barker.

Barker signaled his bears to tightly close the tent flaps. The overhead lights powered down. Blackness surrounded them. "Not a damn shred of light to be found. Fire it up."

"Here goes experiment number one: 'Attempting to Inducing Werehog', in three, two, one," Tails said and powered up the fake moon.

Hugh glimpsed the obelisk that stood on the far side of the tent. His body bulged and shifted into it's werehog state instantly. He rose to his feet and brushed the dust form his fur. "How about that?"

With wide eyes, "Yep, still terrifying. The folks are gonna eat it up," Barker said and placed triumphant fists on his hips.

"The gang told me your form was bigger than Sonic's. They weren't joking," Tails said and went up to get a better look at werehog Hugh. "You easily tower a solid foot over Sonic. You're almost as tall as Eggman."

He thought about it. "I don't know who that is, but the name makes me feel a strange combination of disappointment and pity." Hugh furrowed his brow. "And a lot of frustration."

Tails laughed as he went back and checked to make sure nothing overheated. "Shadow knows Eggman and that sounds like something he'd say about the man; you must be connected via the Black Arm hive mind again."

"He doesn't like it when I do that," Hugh chuckled.

"What now?" Barker asked.

Tails waved a nervous hand, "Never mind." He turned to his wrist communicator and contacted Sonic. "Got a minute?"

" _Sure_ , _buddy. Any luck?_ "

"Yep. On the first try, no less. I'm a genius. Praise me," he said playfully.

" _Heh, smartest man in town,_ " Sonic said with enthusiasm.

"Thanks. I was wondering if you'd come down to Barker's tent. I want to know if you transform for the full moon too."

" _I'm at Meh Burger with Amy and Sticks. I'll be there in two shakes._ " Sonic was there next to them almost instantly. "Only a shake and a half, my bad," he said and looked up. "Wait! No! Crap!" he yelled as he transformed. "AARGH! That's the third damn pair of shoes this week!"

The two laughed while Barker rolled his eyes.

"Why didn't you take them off first," Tails said and chuckled.

"I wasn't thinking." He deeply sighed and removed the busted shoes and gloves. "I'm loving this new tape though," he said as he held up his claws to show the tape had stayed in place. "It's stretchy; like my arms," he said with a grin.

"Your arms," Hugh repeated with confusion.

Sonic showed off his ability. He climbed to the top of the trapeze with a single extended arm and swung around to the pillar. He looped around the other side of the tent, swung back on the second pillar and landed beside them again. "See. Heh, I take it you can't do that."

Hugh made an attempt and his arm went nowhere. "No. That's news to me; I don't think any of the others could do that either."

Barker spoke up, "If you all don't mind, we need to set up for tonights show soon. We haven't even rehearsed yet."

"Right, sorry. You both ready to go back?" Tails asked.

They nodded.

Tails killed the machine's power. Barker flipped a switch and the tent recoiled into it's 'packed' state.

Sonic and Hugh reverted to their original forms simultaneously.

"That's a lot better," Hugh said as he waggled his jaw back and forth. "I could never be in total darkness in the jungle, I suppose that's why I never noticed. The lab only used light brought in through fiber optic cords."

Hugh, Barker and the rest of the circus began to pack up and move to the location of their first spectacle, near the luau.

Sonic walked to Meh Burger with Tails to meet back up with the other. "Damn, those were my last shoes," he said as he held up busted gear once again. "I'll have to get Amy to order me a new pair."

"Consider yourself lucky, your scarf is loose enough that it doesn't strangle you."

He tugged at the garment. "Almost," he said and tightened it back up again. "You going to the luau tonight?"

Tails shook his head. "Mina's concert is in two weeks and I've got too much work to do." He looked at his communicator. "Actually, Mina and Cream are both coming over to help with the prep in a little while."

Sonic raised his eyebrows. "Two ladies at once? Tad friskey, huh?" he said and elbowed Tails. "I thought Amy said Mina's off limits."

"That she is." Tails blushed lightly. "I supposed you didn't watch Mina's interview-oh, right, you couldn't have. That was the night Hugh showed up on your doorstep."

"There was that _and_ I was zonked out with meds. I barely remember that night as is. What does her interview matter?"

Tails held a hand, palm up, "She's gay as springtime."

"Dude!" Sonic was shocked.

He laughed. "Those are her words, not mine. She officially announced her latest album as her 'coming out' album. She's actually planning on making the whole concert dedicated to supporting the queer community here on the island."

"That's really cool." Sonic thought back through Mina's new album and the songs he'd listened to. "Now that you mention it, the very first track..." Sonic hummed it back to himself. "Yeah, I can see that lampshading someone coming out. I mean, that's awesome and all, but do we even have a queer community? The only person I know who's queer is Jules, and now Mina; but they just got here."

Tails snickered. "I said the same thing. Mina told me 'We're the only queer people you know you know'. Did you know Wildcat and Wolfie have been together nearly fifteen years?"

He thought again. "Yeah, I see them together an awful lot. I never really put two and two together. Though, should you be gossiping?"

"They were the couple Mina introduced during her interview. It's not gossip if it's news to everyone."

"How bout that. I never gave it much thought; mostly because I'm straight and have no interest in what other guys are doing with their junk...but...after hearing about the southern war, I kind of see why folks keep quiet about it."

"Mina talked to the counsel about the theme of her show and it was anonymous. Everyone's on board."

Sonic wore a proud smile. "We come from such a nice place. The nicer we make it, the better it'll be for everyone," he said as Dave held up a hand to stop him.

"Sorry, no shoes, no service."

"Really? Are we that concerned about class here?"

Dave shook his head and put the garbage he held in a nearby, nearly full, bin. "No. Dysentery." He went back to the counter to serve folks.

Sonic went pale. "I think these will work for now." He put his busted shoes on as they joined Amy and Sticks.

They witnessed Rouge at the counter. She debated with Shadow.

"Everytime," he said.

"You never know!"

"Every...damn...time!" he said louder.

"I'm still deciding," Rouge said as she kept her laughter to herself.

"You get the same thing, everytime! Why is this a big production?!" Shadow ranted. "There's a line!"

"They can wait. That's what lines are for, darling. I shan't be much longer."

"I swear, Rouge, I could court marshal your ass faster than you order."

Four people stood behind them, far back, and watched as Rouge got yelled at. "Sometimes they update the menu...I need to consider that," she said and squinted.

"..." Shadow paused and huffed. "Rouge...take out your contacts."

"..." She removed one and held it on a finger. With a single eye shut, she perked up and read things clearly. "Oh! I'll get the premium salad, humdrum rings and a small sunday."

Shadow smacked his forehead. "To go!"

Dave looked at Shadow and attempted to speak.

"Don't even try," Shadow shot him a glare. He scared the guy off.

Moments later, Dave brought Rouge her food. "That'll be twelve dollars and fourteen cents, p-please," he said.

"We aren't paying today," Shadow snapped as he pulled his foot off a sticky patch on the floor. "That spot's been there since yesterday. Does anyone on the staff know how to clean?!"

Dave looked at the offending stain. "That stain was yellow yesterday, now it's orange. They don't pay us enough to do 'double stain duty'."

Shadow grit his teeth, "Chaos control!" Time froze for everyone but himself, Sonic and Tails.

"What in the world?" Sonic asked as he exchanged confused glances with Tails.

"Time's frozen," Tails said and waved a hand in front of Sticks face.

"You're helping me clean," Shadow said as he jumped over the counter.

"You froze time to clean?" Tails sounded confused.

"Why do you want to clean Meh Burger?" Sonic asked.

Shadow huffed. "What? I don't want to clean this shithole! Rouge wants to come here everyday, to sit and eat. I have no idea why. This place is disgusting. I can at least make this building decent so I can tolerate standing in it; I can't do anything for the food, unfortunately." Shadow looked around all the cupboards. "Where are the cleaning products?"

"I don't think they carry that sort of thing," Tails shrugged.

Shadow shut his eyes and silently exhaled as much of the frustrated air in his lungs as he could.

After they located cleaning products from elsewhere in town, they scrubbed the restaurant, top to bottom. Shadow started time again. "There! Now keep it that way," he grabbed the bag of food and turned to leave. All the patrons were very confused as the whole restaurant became clean in the blink of an eye.

Rouge picked up her sunday and carried it seperate. She ate it along the way. When she passed by Sonic, on her way out, she noticed his shoes were torn and his toes exposed. She grabbed a twig with a small leaf from a nearby bush and stuck it in Sonic's quills.

"What was that for?" he asked with confusion.

"Hobo cherry on the hobo Sunday," she said with a laugh and walked off with her ice cream and Shadow.

Sticks chuckled, "I think you need to start buying those shoes in bulk."

"The store we're opening has sandals. You can try that instead," a familiar voice sounded from behind them.

They turned, "Re'kar!" three said with surprise.

"Did you miss us that much?" Tails asked.

"Of course," he said. He turned a chair around and sat at the end of their table.

"Re'kar is the rep I told you about for Tonic Concentration," Amy said with a smile. "He surprised me too."

The large, brown, tattooed echidna gave them a wide smile. "I got a surprise when I got here too. Something rather pressing that I need to deal with, ASAP."

"What's up?" Sonic asked.

Re'kar's smile turned to a smile that, somehow, didn't look very happy. "You see, I was under the impression that Xaun was away on a trade course. Everyone, including the school, has been looking for him. His friends back home are covering for him, so I know he's not dead, yet." He took a cleansing breath. "I show up this morning and find out, through Amy here, that he's been on Seaside Island for the past week. SO! Where is my nephew and a place to bury the body," he said and cracked his knuckles.

The whole table gave him a sheepish smile.

* * *

Uh-oh, Xaun's in trouble. XD

I almost forgot I had Re'kar working for To-Co! Glad I don't have to make up another OC to fill this gap. Plus, this adds to the drama. ;P

Re'kar's got that 'strict dad' vibe to him. I do have one other OC who's the 'strict dad' type, but we'll get to see him shortly.


	59. Chapter 59: Think Like an Echidna 4

Re'kar's gonna REK YA, SON! DX

My OC Re'kar is another one I want to draw. I have an image in my mind, but the struggle is with his head to toe tattoos. Aaaaaaalllll the tattoos! If I'm not an artist, why would I be a tattoo artist? XD

To put it as Re're did: "I'm a chef, not a calligraphy artist."

This is just gonna be a short one.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 59: Think Like an Echidna 4-**_

* * *

Xaun busied himself with a book about werewolves. He sat and read in the sand beneath a palm tree. Knuckles and Jules barbecued lunch near the entrance of their home-in-progress.

Knuckles turned around. To his surprise, Re'kar walked onto their property. He approached them with a finger to his lips. He didn't look happy. "Hey, uh, Xaun," he said to the svelte echidna reading in the shade.

"Huh?" Xaun said but didn't look up.

"Do you still talk to the people back home?" Knuckles asked and tapped Jules in the shoulder to get her to turn around.

Jules eyes lit up and she waved. She piped up. "Yeah, I'm curious about that too. We don't have a way to reach the mainland yet. How are you staying in contact with your folks?" she asked.

Re'kar stood a few feet in front of his nephew. He remained unnoticed with his arms tightly folded.

Xaun waved the notion away. "Don't worry about it. I got my friends covering for me. As far as the folks are concerned, I'm in a trade program with a college in the next town over."

Jules tried again. "But, if you don't go to school for a while, don't the teachers call home?"

Xaun nodded and turned a page, "Yeah, but I changed the home number to my friend's number. They call him instead."

Knuckles tried to get him to look up. "If they can't reach your home number, is there a back-up number they can call?" he asked.

"I don't think," he said and flipped another page.

"I think you should duck," Knuckles finally said.

Xaun looked up from his trance. "Wha-?" His vision snapped in front of him. His uncle stood over him with a menacing expression. "EEP!" he yelped and attempted to dig himself to safety.

Re'kar grabbed him by the leg and held him upside down. "You have literal _seconds_ to talk yourself out of this beating!"

"I'm working! I'm working! I swear!" he yelled and waved his hands in front of him.

"Working? On a tropical island paradise? Bullshit. There's work in town!" He gave a sharp punch to his side. "Try again! So help me if you say 'soultouch'!"

"No! I learned what was wrong with me! Seriously, it wasn't soultouch," he said and received another strike to the ribs. "That was the same spot, it's tender!"

"You stalked that poor girl when you knew damn better!" He went to line up another hit when Knuckles grabbed his hand. "WHAT?!" he growled.

Knuckles explained calmly, "She shot him down, he accepted that. He's staying here with us because he's got no drinking buddies. He hasn't touched booze in a week. He also helped build all this," he assured the larger, angry echidna.

"..." He looked to Xaun who held his side in pain. "Is that true?"

"Yes! The work in town sucks! I have no freedom! Look! This thing was half the size only a day ago. Do you realize how long it takes to pick grass!"

"Yeah. I do," Re'kar said dropped him on his head. "I'm listening. What's the plan?"

Knuckles held his heart.

Jules didn't react.

Xaun got up and brushed himself off. "We finished the roof and flooring last night. The electrical line was in a day ago, so today, we're adding a frame right along the inside. When that's done, we can wire the whole place with electricity." He referenced the pile of two by fours in the corner. "And we plan to expand the patio. We just need to wait for the building supply place to get more concrete mix."

Re'kar nodded and made eye contact with Xaun. "I'm sorry. I'm glad you're doing fine." He reached up and flicked his nose.

"Ow," he said and held it in pain.

"Next time you want to do something like this, tell someone other than your stupid friends. They obviously don't know how to cover for you properly. When both your contacts didn't answer, they sent a letter to _my_ front door," he said softly and turned to leave. "It's a shame you both had to see that, but this isn't the first time something like this has happened."

Jules chuckled, "Trust me, we all learned of Xaun's proclivity to smuggle himself along."

"Re'kar," Xaun said.

He glared. "..."

Xaun gave him a small smile, "There's a luau tonight...wanna have a drink?"

Re'kar's expression warmed and he sighed, "Yes." He looked to the others, "I have work to do for the store most of the day. I think it'd be good if we all got together tonight for food and drink. Let's put this upsetting situation behind us." He reached into his new utility belt. "Here," he said and tossed a palm sized box to Jules. "You forgot to bring seeds."

Jules brightened up, "I did! Shit! Thanks, Re're."

Re'kar left to go meet Amy and the other council members at city hall.

"You alright?" Knuckles asked.

Xaun nodded as he steadied his breathing. "Yeah. He kind of tugged at the heart strings, at the end there." He swallowed a lump in his throat.

"How?" Knuckles asked.

"He never apologizes." Xaun held in his emotional mood. "I'm fine," he said and dodged tears by distracting himself. "I'll get that base started, no sense in stopping now, huh?" he said and marched into the house to begin.

"Should I talk to him? He seems a little broken up," Knuckles quietly asked because he noticed how upset Xaun was.

Jules shook her head. "He's fine. Didn't you hear what he said? Re'kar doesn't apologize; from my experience, unless he's super, seriously in the wrong. On top of that, he agreed to drink with him, so that means they're cool. Xaun's happy that he didn't disappoint his uncle, so his heart's been 'touched', not broken."

"Aww, that's sweet."

She nodded. "I've seen Re're lay a beating on him before and he didn't shed a single tear. Trust me, he's fine," she said and opened the grill to envelop herself in the smell of roasted meat and veg.

"Second luau. Excited?" He hugged Jules from behind.

"Yeah. Want to tie one on with Re'kar this time?" she asked and hugged his arms.

"Sure. No tattoos though," he said and gave her a peck on the cheek. "I'll go help Xaun for now."

* * *

Xaun got off too easy if you ask me. Ten lashings with a wet noodle! x_x


	60. Chapter 60: Cute and Fluffy 1

I'm posting this two-parter at the same time.

After the cutesy bits, the stage is set to get an actual antagonist in there. If you've got nothing to lose, where's the devastation? The carnage? The heartbreak? ):D

One thing I love doing in my stories, is to put characters through their own personal hell. Like Knuckles tattoo, Sonic's flesh wounds and Amy's eye. Nothing says 'badass' like a character who's been through shit.

For now, a daily does of cuteness! ^x^ (Then darkness O_O)

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 60: Cute and Fluffy 1-**_

* * *

"Good news!" Tails exclaimed as he burst into his own home. He succeed at startling Cream, who sat and played his games while she waited for him to show up. "Heh, sorry; I need to stop doing that. I have good news."

She paused the level. "Your little wolf friend changed?" she asked with hope and clasped hands.

"You got it! There's nothing _little_ about him though; he's as tall as Vector," Tails said. He opened the top of a heavy duty box full of clear stones. "Looks like I'm going to be using these guys on satellites after all."

"It'll be neat to be able to keep in contact with all my family and friends on the island. Writing letters is fun and all, but I understand not everyone has time to respond."

He nodded and shuffled around in the box. "Postage comes in everyday, but we only send it out once a week. Not a lot of folks send things overseas often. Also factor in travel time, lost parcels, processing and it's a lengthy process. Having a direct line to the mainland is going to be a task and a half, but I should have it up and running in no time. We'll be able to broadcast Mina's concert live, worldwide," he said and held a stone up to his eye. It projected an exact copy of his iris to Cream. "With a thirty second delay, of course."

"Cool," Cream said and marveled at the fascinating stone between Tails fingers. "Both for the concert and whatever that is." She ogled the bobble. "Is it glass?"

"It's called a 'television stone'. The way its molecules are aligned, allow it to produce a flawless image of whatever's beneath it." He handed it to Cream.

Cream held it up to her hand, clothing, then keychain. "That's really neat."

She handed it back and he packed it away. "I figured I needed to direct the light for the fake moon better. I hit the nail on the head, first try." He saw Cream reattach her keychain to her dress. "Did you give your sister those Chaomagotchi yet?"

She shook her head. "Sis didn't get back home until this morning. I heard her arguing with mom before I left, so I decided to wait to give it to her. When I left the house, Staci left with me. I told her about the idea you came up with. She liked it and said she'd give it to her when everyone 'chilled out'." She made finger quotes.

"I hope she likes it."

"Yeah," she said with worry.

"I have a good feeling she will," Tails reassured her.

"Maybe...but I'm a kind of worried that she'll find out where I'm going all the time."

Tails remembered when Mina showed up after her Comedy Chimp interview. Cream was a basket case. She hugged Mina and bounced around so much, she winded herself and nearly fainted. Fortunately the promise of pizza brought her around again.

Unfortunately, Mina's presence needed to be kept 'hush hush'. While she was constantly travelling around the island meeting folks, she needed to keep her base of operations a secret.

"I know your sister is a big fan, but we have to keep it to ourselves. No one knows Mina's on the island, except for a few people, like us. She travels in secret and in disguise. Her transport is so fast, it rivals Sonic's speed." Tails shrugged. "I've timed her, she's not bluffing. However she's getting from point A to B is a mystery to me."

"Mina's got a mysterious side," Cream said and held her cheeks. "I bet it's a cool, super speedy, motorcycle."

"She never makes a sound or tracks," Tails said.

Cream clenched both her fists by her cheeks. "A cool, super stealthy, super speedy, hovering motorcycle!"

They laughed. "Maybe-" Tails said and heard a knock at the door.

Mina panted and entered with a wave. "Beautiful afternoon, isn't it?"

"You're out of breath," he said.

She brushed the observation away, "I'm good. It's so warm here. Not a cloud in the sky," Mina said and held out a thumb drive for Tails to use. "I made some things I need printed, for 'real-real'."

"I'll fire up the build-it box." Tails led them to the workshop and got out his laptop.

"How'd your sister like the keychain?" Mina asked Cream.

She shrugged. "Sis was gone for a couple days, I haven't given it to her yet. I left it with someone, so I'll find out when I get home today."

Tails popped the thumb drive in. "What are we printing?"

"It's for the clothing program."

He typed in commands.

"We're going to do what big sis couldn't," Mina said and took a measuring tape out of her bag. "Haute Couture."

"I don't know what that is," Cream said.

"You'll see. Tails, could you open 'Candy Corn Rave'?" Mina led Cream over behind Tails. "Mind if I measure you?"

"No," she said with a blush.

Tails loaded the file. "Here we go. Oh, hey, that's really nice," he said at the image of clothing on his screen.

There was a flowing, white, spaghetti strap top. Two optional sleeves attached with a button on either side. The wide sleeves had three small, evenly spaced pockets on each arm. They fanned out and ended with orange to yellow to white embroidered waves at the wrists. The bottom was an orange pleated skirt with small mesh loops placed strategically throughout. A metal eye was in the centre of each pleat, an inch from the bottom. The skirt was garnished with a shiny, yellow belt. A pair of poured plastic, visor shades sat next to the ensemble. They too were a orange, yellow and white, horizontal gradient.

"Select the fitting option, please," she said.

Tails went into the requested menu. He read down the list and Mina took each measurement of Cream carefully. At the end they instantly printed a skirt, shirt and shades into existence.

Cream gasped. "How did you do that?"

Tails went over and picked up the folded outfit. "Through the wonders of technology. Want to try it on?" He handed it to her.

"Yes," she said wistfully.

"Leave your socks and shoes on. I colored it to match them," Mina said.

"Okay." Cream took off behind a privacy screen in the corner.

Mina sat on the edge of Tails workbench. "I get what her sister was trying to do. She was trying to boost her confidence with new clothes. A fair attempt, I'll give her that. However, complimentary colours that aren't an accent, come from a lack of insight on fashion. With dark blue jeans and neon orange, you're trying to be shocking to the eye, just like a dirty joke is shocking to the ears; neither are bad, it depends on the audience, really. A wardrobe upgrade only works on your confidence if you connect with the style. The poor girl couldn't even sit down comfortably in those pants, for crying out loud."

Tails nodded. "She also kept getting caught on things with the mesh shirt."

"Stuff like that isn't good for places with lots of odds and ends sticking out everywhere."

Tails workshop did need decluttering. He had every gadget from all their adventures in the past, piled high and low. "True. I also think that white is a bad choice to wear in the workshop. When she's done, we should head over to the house to start work."

"Sure thing, boss," she said.

"Ta-da." Cream presented herself. "I love it!" she said as she caught a look in the mirror. "I like the material too. It's swishy but heavy; if that makes sense."

"It does," Mina said. "And that's what I'm talking about," she clapped and pointed two fingers. "You look happier."

"Yeah. You can't compromise comfort for style all the time," Tails said.

"Your sister did have a point about wearing that dress to the concert though. It can easily get away from you and," she pointed a finger up, "Fwoosh, your underwear is on display. The empire waist in that shirt and the skort make for great dance wear."

Cream showed the legs of the shorts hidden beneath the skirts folds. "I never even thought of that. Thank you, both."

"No prob, Bob. Also, check it." Mina took a thin glowstick from her bag and activated it. She weaved it into one of the skirt pleats using a few loops. "Both sides of each pleat have a spot for a glowstick, and each pleat has a loop to thread one through the bottom." She removed it and bent it into a circle with the help of a rubber stopper. The illuminated circle fit into an arm pocket perfectly. "I sized it for this brand, specifically. The glasses do the same thing along the top and arms. The belt-" she said and pressed the internal button at the very end. The belt began cycling through the outfit's main three colours in eye catching patterns. "Let's come out and say it: This outfit is lit."

They groaned.

"Come on, my dad jokes aren't that bad," she said with a giggle. "Let's take a shot of my design so I can post it to social media."

Cream was hesitant.

"You look great, I promise," Mina said.

"If her sister sees it on social media, she could figure out she got it from you," Tails said.

"Ah, point taken. Put your ears up and I'll keep your face and feet out of the shot."

"Alrighty," Cream said with a smile and had a lovely picture taken.

Mina posted it and instantly got responses. "People are liking it already." The workshop was closed up behind them.

They spent hours in Tails air conditioned home working. They crafted handmade, island themed jewelry for the concert. Tails printed enough materials to make dozens of flower crowns and lei's themed in rainbow patterns. All of the flowers were fake, but thanks to the build-it box, each unique flower had the look and feel of real Seaside Island foliage. A soft cotton-hemp blend of twine held them together. It was important they were handmade. It ensured the originality of each piece.

Cream and Tails unknowingly flirted with one another while they worked. Mina noticed when Tails turned to put a pile of completed wreaths away, he brushed Cream with a tail accidentally. When he apologized, she giggled and said it was okay because it's so 'fluffy'. She was granted permission to pet it. She did so and said 'is it ever', near silently.

Mina pretended not to see and kept working.

After one final day of noses to the grindstone, the concert swag was finished.

"Either of you up for a movie?" Mina asked as she pulled out her tablet library of movies. "I'm sure you guys aren't into psychological thrillers or horror...oh, what about adventure and comedy all in one? Space Chimp X: Ten Dimensions Later?"

Tails and Cream exchanged a concerned glance.

"Okay, no problem, we can pick a different one," Mina said and kept scrolling.

"No-no, it was a great movie," Tails said.

Cream nodded frantically, "Absolutely! I'd be glad to watch it again...it's just...do you not know?"

Mina tilted her head to the side. "Know what?"

Tails bit his knuckle, "She doesn't know," he said with a wince.

"What? Tell me? Who dies?! I need to know!" Mina looked frantic.

Cream took a breath and held in her tears. "Let's watch it. It's the final movie in the series and it...it'll blow you away if you're a big fan." She fanned her face with the tip of her ear.

Mina nodded with a grimace. "I am. I went to the first one on opening day in the theater, years ago. These movies are my childhood and a good chunk of my adulthood. I've been so busy, I didn't get a chance to watch this one though it's been out a year." Mina put her tablet away and pulled out her phone. "Okay, we're getting pizza and we're watching the finale, finally!"

Tails grabbed a remote. "I'll get the projector screen warmed up." The screen began to lower down from the ceiling.

"I'll bring the box of headbands and necklaces out to the shed with the rest," she said and picked up the large, light box." Her keychain fell out of her pocket. "Oops, I should put you on properly first, Cheese."

"Cheese?" they both asked.

Cream blushed. "It's what I named this Chao. You can get one of four Chao on each different device. I named this one Cheese, another is Fraîche, then Sour and the last is Banana."

They both thought about it for a second before the light came on. They were all wordplay on 'Cream'.

"I get it. You're not a bunny, you're a punny," Tails said.

They groaned.

"My dad jokes are better," Tails laughed and folded his arms.

Cream began again. "I wanted to name one of them Pie, but my mom told me that wouldn't be appropriate. I have no clue why," she said as she carefully attached the keychain to a loop on her belt.

Mina laughed nervously, "Probably for the best. Wouldn't want to make an inappropriate joke by accident. Mom's know best."

Cream didn't question it further and left to stack one of the two boxes they filled.

Tails raised an eyebrow. "I take it that name was something...sexual?"

Mina nodded. She held up a hand and smiled awkwardly. "I ain't saying a thing. You can look up what it means on your own time." She sat on the couch and pulled up the pizza place app. "I'm starving. I'm getting the same as the other night. A veg, a meat and a Greek. I have staff who can take care of the leftovers."

"Sounds good to me. I'll keep a meat and Greek for myself for tomorrow." Tails discreetly looked up the meaning of Cream's seemingly innocuous name on his communicator while Mina confirmed their order. "Hmm...uh...oh my, no, no way!" Tails blushed furiously and clicked away and scrolled through menus with a quick hand.

"What?!" Mina was startled.

"Eh, nothing! Just scrubbing my search history!"

Mina fell over laughing on the couch.

* * *

Tails and Sticks have taken a back burner for a lot of this. Sticks has been gag after gag, then a reason for me to shoehorn in an OC. Tails has been a support character but hasn't played much more than a behind the scenes guy who occasionally bursts in with news.

Time to give him his time in the spotlight again. Sticks is around the corner.


	61. Chapter 61: Cute and Fluffy 2

Here's the second part, ironically named. -_-'

Touchy subject of family violence in here, so, heads up. I've never been a victim of FV before, but I've been present while it happened. I was able to interject once. I've been 5'8 for a long time, I'm the protector type, if I can step in, I fuckin do. Mama bear doesn't take well to folks ruffling her cubs. But, as a teen, what would I have done to a full grown man?

Or, in this case, if I were smaller, what would I say to someone _my_ current size?

I'm fortunate to be an amazon. That's why I keep my family and friends safe.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 61: Cute and Fluffy 2-**_

* * *

The three viewed the tenth and final Space Chimp movie. It held them in stitches for the majority of the film, while the end ripped their hearts out; contrary to the way surgery should proceed. The end was truly bittersweet.

Credits rolled.

"Imagine knowing all of that and still being able to go on, for all those years." Mina's voice quivered. "Then sacrificing yourself at the end regardless," Mina bit her handkerchief. She had given up on drying her face.

Cream added, "And his son! Space Chimp could always make others laugh and love him, but accepting his child as his own, was him finally loving himself. His legacy will carry on through his boy." She sniffled into a tissue.

Tails dried his eyes. "For Space Chimp Jr. to selflessly take over after losing his father, so soon after meeting him, too, truly an inspiration. The guy's a hero."

Tails equated a lot of the movie's events to things that had happened in his own life recently and within the past few years. It wasn't word for word, but Tails felt a lot of empathy for the movie. Additionally, Space Chimp movies were a series that he and his childhood friends enjoyed as well.

He hit the remote and the screen rolled up into his ceiling. ' _Sometimes, it feels like we've lived those movies...I guess we'll end up actually going to war someday too.'_ As much guff as he gave Amy for keeping Sonic in the dark, the more Tails thought about it, he knew why she kept so much hidden from them, for as long she she did.

War wasn't easy to think about and have a strong front every day.

Mina stood and stretched. "I'm really glad I got to watch this with people who are huge babies like me and have 'zero' problems crying. It's, like, 'let me feel feelings, dammit'," Mina yawned as she checked her watch. "Oops, I missed an alarm." She quickly darted around, grabbed a few of her things and piled them in the backpack she had. "I told Dixon I'd hear him out. He and I are supposed meet Diane in..." She looked at her watch again, "T-two minutes ago. Crap!"

"I'll hang on to the pizza and you can grab it on the way back," Tails said and handed her the coat she'd left there the other day. "It's getting cold and this has a hood so no one sees you."

"Thanks, Tails. I'll see you guys in a bit to grab my things," she opened the door.

"I actually have to go home. I'll talk to you another day, Mina," Cream said and waved.

"See ya when I see ya," she said and was gone in a flash.

Tails stared out the window. "She's fast," he said.

"Is she running everywhere? Is there no super secret transport?" Cream asked.

"Heh, it doesn't look like it. We'll have to get Sonic and Mina to race one day. We'll have to see who's faster."

Cream held four fingers over her mouth and gasped lightly. "Oh, a challenge; or as Vector would say, ' _Dem's fightin' words_ '," she said with her best impression of him.

Tails laughed. "That's pretty good. Let me try," Tails composed himself and cleared his throat, "' _Cream and BG think Mina's the cat's pyjamas_ '."

Cream held her hand completely over her mouth and stifled her loud laughter, "That was SO close!"

"Thanks." He blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Vector's quite a wordsmith. I doubt I'd have the energy to talk with that many idioms in my casual speech," he said with an impressed nod.

"Same."

"That being said, about 'Mina' and 'articles of clothing', don't you think you should change? Those have Mina's brand on them and she posted that selfie earlier."

Cream felt so comfortable she'd forgotten she changed at all. She looked down with wide eyes. "That would have been a nightmare. I'll be right back."

Tails got her a small over the shoulder bag to carry Mina's gift home in without being noticed. Cream packed the clothing away and Tails walked her home. "Thanks for having me over again. Same time tomorrow?"

He nodded. "Sure. I do have a lot of work to do, but if you don't mind me toiling away, you're free to hang out. I'll bring out the old console for the games you saw on the shelf the other day."

Cream smiled wide. "I haven't played that system in years. It'll be fun to try the old titles out again. I'll bring over some ingredients to make smoothies for lunch."

"That sounds delicious."

They walked in silence for a time. Cream spoke up again. "I'm really glad I got to watch that movie with you guys. I watched it with my dad, step-mom and sister when it was on the TV last year." Cream gave a forced smile. "I was the only one in the room who cried."

"Some people don't get it. Not everyone can connect with the movies the way the three of us did. The rest of the team loves the series too. They all cried," Tails said.

"Even Knuckles?" she asked, assuming the largest member would also be the toughest.

Tails laughed. "Oh yeah, especially Knuckles. You can't even bring up the movie without setting him off. He's super soft-hearted, despite his inclination to brutally smash and pulverize things."

"That makes me feel better. BG called me BB all last summer because I cried. It's short for 'babybun', another word for 'crybaby'." She opened her front door. "I bet she wouldn't call Knuckles a cry baby. I'm glad she forgot it by now," she said and gave Tails a hug.

"Me too. Let me know how she liked the Chaomagotchi. Goodnight," he said and left.

"Nighty-night," Cream said. She shut the door and sighed.

"Wha' wuz all that?" her sister's voice sounded from around the corner.

She blushed as she put her bag on the kitchen table. "Tails and I hung out for the day."

BG sauntered from the living area into the kitchen. She leaned on the door frame. "Oh, really? Zooey tells me he's super into machines. Like, in an unhealthy way." She made a humping motion at the air.

Cream felt a little bit annoyed by what her sister was doing. "I don't mind. He's really sweet and helpful."

"How?" BG shrugged. "All he does is work on his shit all day. He's a total nerd. Seriously, Zooey said there would be times she was over there, he maybe said two words to her the whole time."

Cream felt more annoyed. She'd been over there several times and never had a problem. She then realized there were a lot of times they sat in silence together. "He's quiet when he works. So am I. I don't mind quietly enjoying his company."

"You would. You're a weirdo like him, in a lot of ways. At least you don't have to worry about that dumb toy anymore. Sorry, sis, it had to go."

"Mum didn't tell you? Tails fixed it for me," she said.

"OH! MY! FAWK! Seriously?! You're not bringing it to the concert!" She took an unsteady step forward.

Cream felt her sister was acting more aggressive than normal. "No. I'll leave him at home."

BG pinched the bridge of her nose. "It. That toy is an IT, say it. IT," BG got in her sister's face.

"Okay, I'll leave 'it' at home," she said and sniffed. Her breath smelled like booze. "Have you been drinking your mom's wine? I won't tell her but-"

BG gave her a shove. "Damn right you won't say anything."

Cream only stumbled back. "...I don't want you to get in trouble, that's all." She went to the fridge and poured herself milk.

BG tried to focus her eyes on the blurry phone in her hand. "We're going to the luau tonight. I'm pre-drinking before Staci shows up with her new man. I don't need you nerding it up, shoo," she said and waved an palm down hand condescendingly.

The Chaomagotchi beeped.

BG's angry gaze fell on the bag. "Lemme see the thing," BG said and dove for the beeping burlap bag on the table.

"NO!" Cream dropped and smashed the glass of milk she poured.

"What the fuck is this?!" BG's eyes were wide with murder. "What...the fuck...are you doing with this?!" She held up the orange skirt by the keychain Cream forgot to remove.

"It's a new skirt my friend made for me," Cream tried her hand at lying.

"Like fuck! That's Mina's new skirt!" She pulled out her phone and showed the post from a couple hours ago.

"It's a copy!" Cream said with desperation.

"Then why is her logo on it?" BG looked at the lining. "Yeah, look, number zero, zero, one. Where the fuck did you get this?" She looked at the phone and recognized Tails workshop and the color of her sister's neck. Bunny Girl gave Cream a death stare. "This is you! ISN'T IT!"

Cream began to back away. Glass crunched beneath her feet. "You're scaring me. Stop. It's a copy a friend made."

"Liar! Then why did you jump when I went for the bag? I can see it, you're lying," she said and caused her to sister to cry. "Lookey here, BB's back! You like hanging out with celebrities and then crying about it!" She looked at the beeping toy again.

"Just give it back!" Cream reached out.

BG shoved Cream back and nearly made her slip in the spilled milk. She tore the keychain from the skort and threw the garment at Cream's face, further stunning her. With a hammer from the kitchen drawer, she forcefully pummled the Chaomagotchi. It flew across the room and landed near Cream.

Cream reached for it and had a hammer thrown at her. It clipped her in the shoulder. She doubled over in pain. The fork of the hammer had cut into her skin. BG once again approached her and the keychain. "Stay away!" Cream flapped her ears hard. A gust of wind blew her sister back and knocked over dishes.

BG held her arms up and retained her balance. "You wanna fight?"

"No! Leave me alone," she said and tried to get to her Chao once again.

Her sister pulled the same maneuver and caused Cream to roll and tumble through the glass. She got a small cut on her leg. Quickly rising to her feet she scrambled to the Chao. Cream leapt far, rolled and successfully snagged her possession.

Another gust knocked her into a wall. She got up and quickly flapped her ears backwards and chest bumped her sister to the ground. Before she got up, another ear flap forward knocked her further back into the cupboard. Cream made a sprint for the door and successfully got away with only a couple scrapes and her Chaomagotchi.

Running so hard sent her down for a spill. No one was around to see or to offer help. She ran towards Tails house. She went down an alley and rounded the corner of a nearby store. She ran directly into Staci, nearly taking them both down.

Staci steadied them both with a spin. "Hold the phone, chicky. What's your problem?" she asked the ruffled bunny in her arms.

Through sobs and tears, "BG attacked me."

Tails was nearby. He had seen Xaun walking with Staci and decided to stop them to be nosy. "What happened? I only left a few minutes ago," he asked.

"BG was mad I still had this," she said and showed the broken toy, "So she smashed it. I forgot I left it on the skort, so when it beeped, she saw it and the post on media and now she knows," she babbled and bawled into Tails chest. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be here. She knows about Mina being here for sure now, she knows what your house looks like. I'm sorry," she repeated.

"You let me deal with her." Staci didn't look pleased as she walked away. She cracked her knuckles. "You coming?" she said to Xaun.

"Y-yeah. Later, Tails," he said and hurried off.

"See ya." Tails picked Cream up in his arms. "Are you afraid to fly?"

She sniffled and held on. "No."

Flight helped them skip over town. They landed directly on his property. He let Cream walk on her own when they reached the workshop. She limped. "You're hurt?" He saw a bit of blood on her leg.

"It's only a cut."

"It still needs to be cleaned." He let her into the workshop. "Hang on, I'll go get the first aid kit. I had it in the house last." Within a minute he was back. "Sit on the table." She did so. Tails looked at the cut. "It's long, but not deep. Does it hurt?"

She shook her head.

"Must be the adrenaline." He wet a rag at the sink and blotted the wound on her leg clean. "Best we do this quickly, before it does start to hurt."

"...thank you, Tails," she said blankly.

He looked up into her eyes from his kneeling position. She looked completely drained.

"I was having a perfect day...how did it get ruined?" Tears once again poured from her eyes.

Tails didn't know how to help someone dealing with family violence; especially when it wasn't as simple as 'punch them back'. Cream was a sweet girl, not one who liked to upset others, a fact he learned in that moment all too well. "I'm not sure. I want to give you advice, but I honestly don't know what to say. Have you talked to your folks about this?"

She nodded. "They told me to fight back. Punishing BG doesn't do any good, they said. She only gets worse."

Tails thought. "...do you need help to fight back? If you really had to, could you?"

She nodded again. "I did fight back...that's why I feel so terrible. I hurt my sister. She hit her head when she flew backwards like that."

"Cream, if you did nothing, you would have been the one to get hurt. That wouldn't have been alright either. You instigated nothing. ' _Not defending yourself isn't kind to another, but cruel to oneself,_ ' or is Nova wrong?" He managed to get Cream to smile.

With a hint of a smile she said, "Space Chimp VIII: Cloud Summit. That's the scene where Space Chimp fights his creator. Nova's been his best friend for many lives. She's always a big help in all the movies, wasn't she?"

"She was," Tails finished putting two large bandages over Cream's left leg. He stood up and cleaned her now cut and bruised shoulder. "Sometimes you need to fight back to make a bully go away."

"A bully? You think my sister's a bully?"

"I'm sorry, but yes, absolutely."

Cream nodded once more. "You're right. She always has been. I thought if I was nice enough to her, she'd change. She won't, will she?"

Tails knew that BG was a member of the Lightening Bolt Society, thus he said, "I doubt it."

Cream no longer had tears to cry. "But...this," she said and held up her keychain. "I think it's totally busted."

Tails took it from her. "Maybe not. It looks like it's the screen that's damaged." The toy beeped.

"CHEESE! You're alive!" Creams tears were back in full force.

Tails held the toy in his palm. "He's not alive...not yet."

Cream paused. "What?" she said with a puzzled tone.

"Do you remember how we made your outfit? Well, I can take anything from the digital world and bring it to life."

Cream hopped off the table and went wide eyed. "I can get a Chao plush instead? I've always wanted to know how big they'd be." She made sizes with her hands as to how big she hoped he'd be.

Tails shook his head. "The program I use to create characters from games generates a living, breathing being. Cream," he said and took her by the shoulders, "Do you want a real Chao?"

With no words, she nodded.

"Let's bring Cheese to our plane of existence." Tails hooked the damaged Chaomagotchi to his laptop and began going through it's files to compile the character.

Cream held her hands together, fingers laced.

"First off, before we bite off more than we can chew, let's print off the manual. In case they need special care we need to prepare for first."

"Manual? Where do we get that?"

"The option in the game where you get your Chao to study to become an adult. That item should have information on how to care for Chao in the real world." He hit the switch and the build it box flashed and produced a large, brown, leather bound book.

Cream reached down and opened the cover. "...it's in English!" she declared happily and brought it to the table. She and Tails read the first few pages together in silence, save for a 'done' and 'yeah' on each page.

"We can do this. It eats a lot of things like breads, fruits and meats."

Cream smiled happily. "Cheese is the kind who doesn't like meat."

"All the better," he said and closed the book. "Time to meet Cheese."

The machine whirred and flashed to produce the creature in question.

Tails and Cream waited to see what emerged. Nothing came out. "Are they shy?" Tails asked. "Come on out little one." Nothing.

"Hehe, it's been a while since you play with one, hasn't it?" Cream asked and tugged him over to the platform. The two approached the build-it box and saw a small dumpling shaped, squishy blue and yellow thing.

"I forgot, they start out as eggs," Tails said.

She reached down and picked up the gelatinous gourd. "Come on Cheese. Let's get you warm and play you some soothing music."

Tails hesitated asking her, but decided to offer her a safe space anyway. "Do you want me to go check your place to see if your sister is still home, or do you want to stay over? I have a bed, couch or a hammock you can pick from."

Cream nodded. "I do need a change of clothes, but I really don't want to go home tonight."

"I'll run over to your place and get the bag with the clothes Mina gave you. Provided they're still intact. If they aren't, we'll print off a new one. You can use my shower while I'm gone."

"Thanks. Mum and Dad are at the luau and won't be back till super late...I can sneak in the guest window early in the morning."

"Alright. I'll be back."

Cream cleaned up and kept Cheese in the room with her to keep him warm.

Tails successfully retrieved her clothes from an empty house. He told Cream he cleaned up the mess before he left.

Cream, Cheese and Tails had a sleepover with the lights out before eleven. It was Cream's first time sleeping on a hammock. She slept soundly, her ears and body curled around her baby Chao egg.

* * *

It was cute at the end though. Having that one person to be a rock in the difficult times really goes a long way. And not being afraid to speak up is also great. Don't suffer in silence. Get out there, speak up, help is out there.

Alignment aside, I feel like Staci and Perci have that 'Mama Bear mentality'.

Rule of the day: Don't poke Mama Bear. ^_~'


	62. Chapter 62: Meanwhile 2

Folks, there's a lot going on in this story, it's all worth it and it's all happening at once. But sometimes, the granules of plot that matter most, slip past the sifter that is my ability to tell a coherent story and fall into the sand trap of obscurity. That fact needs to be addressed, posthaste. So, I like to gather up all the extra bits and bobs of info, and fashion them into their own little hodgepodge of a chapter, that I like to call, ' _ **Meanwhile~**_ '. :D

Time for another one of these! (Gotta love Stephen Colbert. ;P)

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 62: Meanwhile 2-**_

* * *

Tails left Meh Burger to meet with Cream and Mina at his house. Sonic and Sticks left for her burrow to study up on 'anti-werehog' treatments. Amy was left to talk Re'kar down from wanting to murder his nephew. She clasped her hands together, "Please go easy on Xaun. He's been behaved the whole time he's been here," she defended him.

"I don't doubt that, but I really need to hear that from him. He also has to explain why he left without telling anyone. I hope you understand." Re'kar laced his fingers together and bent them back to snap every knuckle at once. "I will try to be nice, though. Only because you asked," he said and unwrapped his second burger.

"He's been staying with Knuckles and Jules. Their house is that way. Town hall is that big building, over there," she said and pointed to each location. "When you're done, you can meet us over there. It'll be alright if you're a bit late, we have a a few things to go through first."

"Understood," he said with a nod. Something swooshed by the restaurant. Re'kar looked over quickly. "What was that?"

Amy looked around too. "Good question. I thought it was Sonic for a second, but he already left in that direction," she said.

They both shrugged in confusion and went back to their meals.

Meanwhile, the 'swoosh' saw Sonic in her top speed travels through town. In an attempt to avoid knocking him down, she swerved and went for a tumble with whomever he was walking with. The two rolled a few times before momentum gave out.

The 'swoosh' was Mina, in a rush. She held her hood down and rose to all fours above her victim. She looked at the one steamrolled beneath her. "Sticks! I'm sorry," she said to the girl with swirled eyes.

Sticks shook herself to. A heavy blush consumed her face when she took note of who straddled her. "No prob." She was helped to her feet.

Sonic recognized Mina's face from the album Amy owned. "You're pretty fast," he said and folded his arms. "I'm almost impressed."

Mina laughed as she helped brush the dirt off Sticks. "From what I've been told, coming from you, that's a compliment."

"You're not wrong." He extended a gloveless hand to greet her with his usual, cocky smile. "I don't think I need an introduction, but formalities are formalities, I'm Sonic the Hedgehog." They shook and greeted one another properly.

"I'm Mina Mongoose."

"Nice to meet you, Mina. I take it you're off to visit Tails," he asked.

She nodded, "Yeah, we have a bit more 'bling' for the concert we're trying to finish today. Where are you two going?"

Sticks piped up with their alibi, "We're going to try and find some herbal medicine in the jungle. Sonic's been having night terrors," she said while a blush still hung on her cheeks.

"Ooh, I love me some herbs. W-wait, do you mean herbal medicine," she said normally, "Or, ' _herbal medicine_ '," she said with inflection and pretended to inhale from an invisible joint pinched between two fingers.

"Not sure. Maybe both," Sticks said.

Sonic interjected, "Though, if you're looking for that kind of 'herbal', you'd best talk to our buddy, Re'kar."

"Oh, is he 'holding'?" she asked.

Sonic hadn't heard that expression before. "I'm not totally sure what that means, but he has cannabis to spare."

"Holding means 'selling'," she clarified.

"Got ya. Let me check." He messaged Amy still at Meh Burger. "I doubt he'll sell it to you, but he'll give you some."

"Have I met him already?" Mina thought about it.

"I doubt it. Re'kar's from the mainland. He's the big, tattooed echidna who showed up to pick a spot for Tonic Concentration." Sonic got a response. "...yeah, he said he'll set some aside for you."

"Sweet." Mina looked excited and took out her tablet. "I haven't had a puff since I got here-actually, no, longer than that. Lets trade numbers and I'll message you when I'm done for the day. We'll have a session." They exchanged contact info. "Thanks. By the way," she said and pointed to Sonic's busted shoes. "I'm diggin' the destroyed look." She looked on top of his head. "The twig's a nice touch. Gotta jet. See you later." She made eye contact with his walking companion. "Bye, Sticks," she smiled and waved.

"Bye, Mina," Sticks said and waved slowly as the popstar quickly ran off.

Sonic pulled the twig from atop his quills. He then took note of the wistful expression on his teammate's face. What Tails said, not even an hour ago, suddenly clicked with him. ' _Jules and Mina are the only people I know 'I know' are queer._ ' He continued to walk contemplatively, arms folded, slightly behind Sticks.

She looked over her shoulder and noticed him falling behind. "Am I gonna have to call you 'slowpoke', or what?"

"I'm thinking," he said.

"About what?" Sticks asked as she opened her front door.

"Let's go inside first." They both went in and sat on the couch. Sonic said nothing.

"You were fine two seconds ago." Sticks grabbed the last book she was going through off her coffee table and opened to its bookmark. "You're sitting still and being quiet, but you're not complaining or sleeping. What's the deal?"

"You're on my mind," he said.

"Why me? You're the one who's got the freaky 'were' powers. 'You' should be on your mind."

Sonic sighed. "It was something Tails said to me earlier today, about things that 'I don't know, I don't know'. Mixing that with something you've said in the past week, what was it...'single for life'? Add on that exchange with Mina and I got to thinking about things."

Sticks blushed a bit and blinked a few times while she waited for him to complete his thought. "Something Tails said, the conversation with Mina just now and one sentence I said a week ago, stopped you in your tracks? Why?"

"Are you gay?" Sonic bluntly asked.

"..." She could only stare.

He held up his hands and showed her empty palms. "It's fine if you are...I never really thought about it before, is all."

Sticks laughed.

"What? I didn't mean to offend you or anything," he said.

She waved a hand. "No, you didn't."

"It's none of my business, you don't have to answer," he followed up. "I realize I never considered the idea of the people closest to me being queer. I really don't know anything about that sort of thing."

"There's a word for that," she said.

"Huh?"

"Heteronormative," Sticks said.

Sonic broke down the word, ' _Hetero' means 'heterosexual' and 'normative' means 'what's normal'._ ' He repeated the word to himself. "I don't want to be heteronormative. I want to learn about this stuff now, but, it's difficult to know what to ask when I literally knew 'nothing' only days ago."

"I get ya," she said and briefly hesitated. "...I...don't know what I am, to be totally honest." She laid the book she read on her lap. "I tried to be with a few guys before, but I didn't feel anything. I mean, sex felt good, but I had no desire to pursue them or additional physical relations after that." Sticks hands shook as she put her book back on the table. "I appreciate you talking to me about this; you're the only one who's ever brought it up. I was gonna talk to Jules, when I got the chance...but...it sucks that I've never been able to talk Amy about this kind of thing." She began to tear up.

Sonic raised an eyebrow skeptically. "What? She won't judge you, I know that for sure."

Sticks shook her head and tears fell from her eyes. "Years ago, I thought if I told her I might be gay, she'd think I was hitting on her. Then things would get awkward and I'd be kicked off the team. I _did_ have a crush on her long ago, but I knew she was only interested in you, so I kept my feelings to myself." She wiped scarred tears from her cheeks.

Sonic hugged his friend and teammate. "I'm sorry. I wish I'd have known better. I think we're all new to this way of thinking. I like it though; you should have the freedom to love who you want, without worry and without dumbasses like me pretending like everybody's straight unless they come out and say something." He was shocked to find he was so tone deaf to the internal plight of those closest to him. Something else hit him and he sat Sticks up straight. "I think I did this twice."

Sticks smiled and dried her face. "You didn't do it on purpose, and you're making an effort to learn...b-but, what do you mean 'twice'?"

Sonic shook his head. "On purpose or not, that's not the point. I have to make a call. I think I may have let two of my teammates down."

Meanwhile, at Knuckles and Jules place, Xaun drilled a beam into place. He sighed in satisfaction. "Angling the top and bottom beams are way easier than that wedge idea I had," he said and they took a step back. The frame stood sturdily against the wall of the hut on it's own. "We'll need a craft drill before we can complete the whole thing with-" Xaun was cut off by Knuckles communicator beep.

"Hang on." Knuckles answered. "Hey, Sonic, sup?"

' _Research. You?_ '

"Construction. If Re'kar doesn't see progress by day's end he may end up burying Xaun in my backyard."

"Don't joke like that," Xaun said with fear and clenched fists. "He'd do it, too!"

' _Heh, I can hear him, he's still alive, Sticks. That's good. Uh, you got a second to talk, buddy?_ '

"Sure. What's up?"

' _I need to talk to you privately about something Sticks and I discovered. Can you go somewhere you won't be heard?_ '

Knuckles raised a confused brow. "Okay. Give me a second." He walked out and past Jules. He made a motion that he'd be back in a moment. "And...there. I'm pretty sure no one can hear me over here." He stood at the shore. Waves ended inches away from his shoes.

' _Really sure? I need you to be really sure no one can hear us until I know we're okay to talk about this,_' he said with a concerned tone.

Knuckles slowly walked away from his home. "Alright, I'll walk. Is everything okay?" He took an earpiece from his communicator and clipped it to a spike near his ear.

' _Yes. No. Possibly. I'm not sure...hang on...I want to word this so I don't sound like an asshole again._ '

He laughed dismissively. "Dude, I've gotten used to you by now, ask away," he said lightheartedly.

' _I'm serious. Thanks to Sticks, I realize I fucked up, badly,_ ' he said with a bit of frustration.

Knuckles knew Sonic wasn't one to swear if he wasn't in the mood. "Talk to me, man. What's wrong?"

' _It's a private question I need to ask, is all._ _I...asked you if...uh, no let me start over._ '

"Okay..." Knuckles waited patiently.

Sonic started again. ' _Okay...before we went on the trip to the mainland...about a month or two beforehand...I asked you a couple questions. I asked if you had been with any girls before, and I also asked if you even kissed any girls before. Do you remember what you said?_ '

Knuckles answered honestly, "I told you I hadn't."

' _Okay...now that I'm making efforts at not being a heteronormative ass...have you been with or kissed any guys?_ '

Knuckles blushed hard. "I..."

' _It's totally cool if you have. Don't answer if you don't want to. It's my fault-_ '

Knuckles cut him off, "I have...with three...others," he blurted and turned several shades redder.

Sonic sighed in relief. 'S _ee? That's what I meant by me being an asshole. I'm sorry if I made you feel like you weren't normal in any way. You're totally normal and I'm the one who needs to be educated._ '

"T-thanks. That really means a lot, Sonic...thank you," Knuckles hand shook as he spoke quietly into his device. After a few more kind words back and forth, Knuckles hung up and put away the earpiece. He walked right up to Jules.

"Is everyth-" she said and was cut off with a tight hug.

"Yes. Everything is awesome. We have really awesome friends," he said with noticeable tremors in his words.

"Knuckie?"

He sniffled. "I'm fine," he said and looked her in the eyes.

"People don't usually cry when they're fine," she said with worry.

Knuckles smiled, "How about when they've been 'touched'?"

Julie-Su smiled back and wiped tears from his cheeks. "That's different," she said and they kissed.

Meanwhile, at BG's house, she woke up from her nap. The teen left her room, finally cooled down from an argument with her mom. She slinked quietly throughout her empty home and peered in her folks bedroom, the bathroom and any other door worth looking behind. She pumped a fist, "Yes." She finally peeked into the guest room. It too was empty. "Woo-Hoo! No narc!" she declared and marched happily into the kitchen.

BG crouched down, opened and leaned into the back of the bottom cupboard for her mother's wine. A phone jingle made her jump and bump her head on the way out. Bottle and phone in hand, she stood. With the phone wedged beneath an ear, she answered, "Hey, Stac, what's up?" and put the bottle down with a thud.

" _Were the rent's super pissed? You still coming out?_ "

BG took a wine glass from the cupboard. She laughed. "Nah, I told them it was an accident, started crying and offered to pay to replace it. We're cool." The offending glass wasn't good enough; she shook her head and put it back.

" _You're a shitbag, you know that, right,_ " she said condescendingly.

Bunny Girl searched for a different glass. "I know, but it's for her own good. Poor kid is going to be mocked for carrying that dumb toy everywhere she goes. If I don't do something to save her, what does that make me? When you slice it the right way, Stace, I'm a saint." Her hand emerged with the biggest wine glass in the house. She nodded hard and laid it down with a pleasing _clonk_.

" _You're t_ _he most contrived saint I've heard of._ "

"Whatever, I'll take 'contrivity'. That stupid fucking thing is gone and we can all move on," she said and poured a full glass of dark red liquid.

" _You never know,_ " Staci said with a knowing, nervous chuckle.

"Seriously, if she bitches at me about it, I'll slap her."

" _Come on, don't be like that,_ " she said with frustration.

"Don't worry, I won't hit her hard. Little BB needs to learn to stick up for herself," she said and took a sip. Her face scrunched up. "Oh, shit, nasty," she said and stared at the offending red liquid she'd served herself.

" _What?_ "

BG took another drink and cringed more. "Like, my Mom must be broke, or something; she's buying this shit wine. I hope this isn't antifreeze." She sniffed the noxious beverage.

" _Is it sweet?_ " Staci asked.

"No."

" _Then it's not antifreeze. Go easy. We're drinking with Xaun, his uncle and possibly a few members of Team Sonic, tonight._ "

She threw her head back in frustration and groaned. "Guh, do we have to?" Beverage in hand, she headed for the living room. "I don't want to party with old men," she said and flopped into the squishy-cushioned, rocking, recliner in front of their large screened television on top of their mahogany entertainment centre filled with porcelain ornaments. "Hah, we'll make a movie about it called 'No Party for Old Men'. Now where's my air compressor," she said with a chuckle.

" _Good reference, but if you want to hang with me, you're going to have to put up and shut up; mostly the second one,_ " she said with sass.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll get good and hammered before I show up. Don't need no goodie-goodie's harshing my buzz."

" _You do you. I'll be there shortly after six. Your parents should be wasted enough by then that they won't notice you 'out and about'._ "

BG checked the time. "Three hours to get my drunk on? I'll see you then, dear."

" _Later, chicky,_ " she said and hung up.

BG let her phone fall from under her ear to her hand. "Ugh," she said and took another drink. "I should put that bottle away, before I forget," she said to herself and left her phone and drink on a nearby, doilie covered end table. A couple words on the bottle caught her eye. "' _Plus Everclear_ '? Gross. I'm never drinking this wine again." She hid the evidence.

Meanwhile, after the town meeting, Amy and Re'kar left city hall. They paused on the top stoop for a few final pleasantries. Re'kar's hands were taken and tightly held by an aging Mrs. Vandersnout. "Having to wait for my treatment is a thing of the past. These pre-rolls are just what the doctor ordered."

Re'kar nodded. "Not a problem, my fair lady," he said and kissed the top of her hand. "When the store opens, these'll be ready and waiting for you, whenever you need them."

She blushed. "Bless you, bless you, dear," she said and put a sentimental hand on his cheek. Mrs. Vandersnout was helped down the stairs by an arm as big as her whole body. The elderly woman mounted a rickshaw pulled by a new villager and was taken home.

Amy walked with Re'kar. "Glaucoma treatment, was it?" she said skeptically.

He laughed. "Not all strains of cannabis will get you stoned. That one's high in CBD, not THC. It's not going to turn her into a pirate, if that's what you're worried about."

Amy laughed and remembered her partner's antics on the boat ride home. "I'll leave all that in your capable hands."

A swoosh went past for the second time that day.

Amy held her dress down as the wind nearly took it up and over her bottom. "There it is again!" Amy said. "What, or who, was that?" She dialed Sonic. "Sonic, where are you?"

" _I'm out in the jungle hunting down flowers,_ " he said with strain.

"Flowers?"

" _Yeah! Sticks and I found a bunch of different plants that have been used to ward off 'werewolves' in the past. We're seeing if the same applies to 'werehog's'._ "

"If you were with anyone else, I'd say you're making no sense...but..." She paused. "That's odd, then. Who ran past us? Someone ran by and I thought it was you," Amy said and put a confused fist on her hip.

" _Hehe, that was probably Mina. She's pretty quick,_ " he said with a chuckle.

"That's a compliment, coming from you," she snarked.

" _So I've heard,_ " he laughed.

"Alright, never mind then. Do you have an ETA?"

" _Nope. I may not be back until tomorrow. If we're out here when the sun goes down, I don't want to risk people in town seeing me as a werehog. I'll crash at Sticks burrow._ "

"Talk to you then," Amy said and hung up. She noticed Re'kar looked at her like she had five heads. "Oops, I forgot to let you in on that. Eheh, I'll explain when we get back." Amy walked him to her house for supper and whack of info.

Meanwhile, with her second argument of the day out of the way, BG put her coat on and headed for the door. Her arm went through the sleeve and caught a thread. "Fucking, stupid, fuck," she said and stumbled backwards. She fell into her closet and busted the accordion door in. She pulled herself to her feet and held her head. She forgot it had been smashed into a cupboard by her sister's wind attack. "I need food," she said to a phone beep that she ignored. "Take me to food, Meh Burger, now," she said and got her phone to draw a map of where to go. She squinted at the blurry screen. BG assumed she was so drunk because she'd forgotten to eat.

"I want a burger." She stood at the counter with glossy eyes. "Where am I?" she began to black out and didn't remember her walk to Meh Burger.

"BG, you okay?" Dave asked.

"I'm'sit down. Bring'm'food," she said and left without paying, or asking for anything in particular.

"..." Dave watched her sit at the back of the restaurant. She put her head down on a table. He wasn't off for over an hour, so he let her pass out there while he worked the last of his shift. He simultaneously kept an eye on BG while he continued to serve other customers.

The last patron in line asked, "Is that girl alright?"

"I'm hoping so," Dave said and looked over to her. An ominous amount of red liquid spilled from the table top to the floor. "Oh, no," he said and slapped his forehead. "Shadow's gonna be pissed." He hit a few buttons on the automated helper robot. "I'm ducking out early." He went to BG's side. "Ah, man, it's everywhere." Dave gingerly plucked BG's head and body from the puddle her guts wrought. He walked her out of the restaurant. "Do you want to go home?"

BG cried, "No."

"Do you have anywhere to go?" he asked again.

She cried more, "Nooooo."

"Okay, okay, I'll take you to my mom's place and get you cleaned up." Dave noticed Staci talking to Cream down the road a ways. Cream looked distraught and Staci looked pissed. He quickly put two and two together. He ducked behind a bush as Staci marched by with Xaun close by.

"She's dead when I get a hold of her," Staci said as she walked past.

BG sobbed and tried to hide in Dave's uniform.

"Come on, she didn't see you," Dave said and tried to get her to stand up straight, but she threw up on his shoes instead. "Goddammit..." He did his best to stay out of the way and waited for her to finish. "Ugh, are you done?" He got a nod. "Let's go," he said and helped his comrade to his own home for the evening.

* * *

Yeah, I had Everclear once in my life. Look at my eyes, *stares* ONCE! Never again! O_O

This one was long, but it tied up the ends I needed to tie up.


	63. Chapter 63: Loud and Clear

:D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 63: Loud and Clear-**_

* * *

"BG! Where are you?!" Staci bellowed as she threw open the door to the girl's home.

They saw the busted closet door on their way in. She and Xaun proceeded with caution.

Xaun searched one half of the house. "Empty," he said as he came back to the front door.

Staci had finished her check of the kitchen and pantry. "Same. Where the hell is she? I've seen some shit from her in the past, but this is _way_ unacceptable. She better have a good explanation for this."

Xaun spotted something in the living room. "Check it," he said and grabbed a cup off it's side from the floor near the recliner. The liquid culprit sat unspilled, bowled, in the tipped tableware.

"Let me see." She took it and tried a sip. "She wasn't kidding when she said it was gross! Why was she drinking this? It doesn't taste like antifreeze, it tastes like turpentine." Staci went to the kitchen and stepped around the glass and semi dry milk on the floor. She went right to Bonnie's wine stash. There were a few bottles. Staci opened each one and gave a smell test to compare. Something caught her eye. "...how much you wanna bet it's this one?" She brought forth the bottle that read 'Plus Everclear' on a homemade label.

"Woah! Probably. That shit is evil, and even evil has standards." He shivered and remembered, what he could, of his night with Everclear years ago.

"No joke. I had punch spiked with this and it got me _totally_ hammered in no time; I have good tolerance, BG doesn't. She's probably lost in a blackout somewhere. We need to go find her." Staci was noticeably less angry. "It doesn't make it okay, but I think BG attacked Cream because of this stuff," she said and replaced the empty bottle. She stood. "We'll go find her and then come back to fix this place up. First, time to send out an ATL." She got a confused look from Xaun. "It means 'Attempt to Locate'." She dialed the Lightening Bolt Society and sent out a text to everyone. They waited for a response as she closed up the house behind them.

Minutes later they found themselves at relatively deserted Meh Burger with no responses beyond recognition of the situation. "Where's Dave?" she asked and looked around the restaurant. She saw the red spill and a wet floor sign with no one to clean up. "That looks like the wine." The air also smelled somewhat acidic. "I wonder if Dave picked her up," she said and tried to dial his number. It went right to voicemail. "Damn, his phone's dead."

"Do you know where he lives?" Xaun asked.

"Yeah...I'll do one better though." Staci called Dave's mom.

" _Staci, dear, how are you?_ " the woman asked with her usual raspy voice.

"I'm doing fine, thanks. Say, curious, is Bunny Girl over there in a raving, drunken stupor or is she just blackedout?"

" _Hold on._ " There was a brief pause and then a torrent of words. " _DAVID! Do you have a drunk girl passed out in your room?_ " Some silence for a response. " _...ALRIGHT...OKAY!_ " She came back to a regular register of voice. " _He says one of the other Lightening Bolt members overdid it at the luau and had nowhere to go. Did you want to come pick her up?_ "

Staci got an evil look in her eye. "Nah, Dave's a good man. I think he can handle her for the evening."

The woman laughed. " _I'll make sure he brings her some soup. Talk to you later, Staci._ "

"Later days," she said and hung up. "Now to update that ATL and we're free to go party." Staci thought quickly and turned to her date. "I'm not getting myself in shit here. Are you old enough to drink?"

He nodded. "I'm twenty." Xaun looked concerned.

Staci sighed, "Good." She noticed his unrest. "What's wrong?"

"Should you leave your drunk friend at a guy's house like that?"

Staci laughed, waved a hand and gave a 'pfft'. "Nah, she's fine. That was Dave's mom," she said with a sinister chuckle. "I don't know how familiar you are with Dave, but he's a solid unit; a huge dork, but still a good man. He's not one to put hands on an underage girl. Remember what you said? Even evil has standards. And I think it'll benefit her to wake up next to a slice of 'humble pie'."

Xaun remembered how he met Sticks at his uncle and aunt's hatching celebration and how he wanted to protect her as well. "Humble pie sounds delicious right about now," he said and held a hunger in his gut.

"No argument there," she said and looked at her phone. "It's nearly time to dig up the barbecue. We should go get a table. If last week was a precursor to this week, then this place is going to be fucking swamped."

On their way out of the restaurant they passed Shadow and Rouge.

"We didn't need to rehearse," Rouge said and brushed Shadow's comments off.

"Yes, we did. And I bet you're still going to read all the menus," he said, frustrated at Rouge's daily trip to Meh Burger.

"No, I won't...but just for that, I'm going to add something different," she said haughtily as they walked near the wet floor sign.

"I'll believe that wh-" he began to speak but the scent of something foul caught his attention. He bore witness to the spot Bunny Girl had befouled. "Where is the cleaning staff?!" he shouted at a robot.

"I'm on my break," it said and wheeled itself away.

Shadow waved a hand in front of his face in an attempt to shoo the offending stench away from his senses. It made him gag. He began to leave the restaurant. "That's the last straw! If this place is fucking filthy tomorrow, I'm burning it to the ground!" He stifled a gag with a cough. "I'm done. You're on your own." He walked further away doing his best to maintain his lunch.

"Hmm, weak stomach," Rouge said with a laugh and shrug. She turned to the robot behind the counter. "Premium Meh Salad, humdrum rings and a small Sunday," she said as a reflex but stopped to ponder. "...add on one of those chilidogs Sonic is always raving about."

"Do you want cheese on that?" they asked with an electronic hum.

"Yes! But," she said an leaned forward so only the clerkbot could hear, "C-could you put a lot of cheese on it, I mean, I want you to obscure the hotdog and chili with cheese. Basically, I want the bun to be barely recognizable beneath a mound of cheese."

Clerkbot punched in her order. "Fifteen dollars, please."

"What?! Three dollars for extra cheese?"

The robot nodded. "Sufficient cheese smotherage will occur at six times the amount of normal cheese. At fifty cents extra for cheese, that puts your bill up by three dollars."

Rouge rolled her eyes and leaned in a way her bust was showed off. "Can't you give it to me for free?"

The robot noticed the advance and removed it's white server hat and placed it beneath the counter. The bot then reemerged with a rainbow coloured hat. "I'm sorry ma'am, but you're barking up the wrong tree."

She laughed at herself, "Can't blame a girl for trying," she said and handed over the requested money. She left the restaurant to meet Shadow right outside. "All done. See how quick that was?"

He rolled his eyes.

Rouge took a bite of the chilidog and pulled a long string of cheese out. She began to slowly consume the large strand of cheese bite by bite. She attempted to speak.

"Rouge, please, seeing someone else's undigested food once in a day is my quota."

Rouge swallowed her bite. "Did you know, robots can be gay?"

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "The sentient ones, maybe. Who does that to a robot, anyway?"

Over at Tails place, he sneezed.

"Bless you," Cream said from the shower.

Tails laughed. "Thanks." He heard a knock on the door. He answered and revealed Mina. "Hey," he said with a bit of concern.

"Yo," she said with a wave and let herself in. She heard the shower running and saw Cream's possessions nearby. Her eyes went as wide as her mouth. She covered her mouth, uncovering it briefly to call Tails a, "You frisky biscuit, you!"

Tails blushed hard. "It's not what it looks like!"

She gave him an elbow, "Then what's the alibi? I'll cover for you."

Tails told her everything.

"...that's...far less...well, it's still scandalous, but not in the same way one would hope."

He nodded, "I told her she's free to stay. I have a couple places for her to sleep, so I'm not trying to be a creep or anything."

Mina smiled as she opened his fridge to retrieve the cold pizzas. "I've known you a week, Tails, and you've never given me a 'creeper' vibe."

"Always good to hear."

"Did you take your slices yet?" She held up the pizza boxes.

"I did, but I should take a couple out for Cream too."

Mina divided up the pizza and put all the leftovers in one box. The lid barely closed it was so packed. "I was gonna bring these to the staff, but I'm having a session with Sonic and his buddy Re'kar soon. I should ask Jules and her partner to come along too."

"Session?" Tails asked.

"I forget, you're not old enough yet. We're going to," she said and made a 'smoking' motion.

"I see," he laughed, "Heh, beware mutinies."

Mina tilted her head. "I don't get it," she said with a chuckle.

"Ask Sonic when you get there."

"I will. Sorry I can't stay, I got peeps waiting for me. I hope Cream's feeling better now that she's got you to talk with," Mina said and gave him a hug.

"Me too. Are you still coming by tomorrow?"

Mina shrugged. "Depends on how hard I party tonight," she said with a wave. "Wish me luck."

"I don't wish you luck, I wish you sense," he said with a smirk.

"Never," she said and stuck her tongue out. "Later." She took off to Sonic and Amy's for a long deserved 'session'.

* * *

One more luau! XD

No more jumping around, fortunately.


	64. Chapter 64: Control

:)

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 64: Control-**_

* * *

Sonic and Sticks sat on the jungle floor. Green foliage surrounded them. Sticks moiled away at a handcraft. "Last twist, a tuck and there, it's done." She took the garland of flower stems and placed it around Sonic's neck. "Every flower in the book, in one place." She sniffed him. "Plus, you smell great. Jasmine, licorice and something citrusy."

He breathed in the natural aromatic scent of the necklace's materials. "That's a bonus; I was worried I'd come out of here smelling like tea tree oil or eucalyptus." Sonic looked at the giant basket of flowers and various other plants they'd collected. Each specimen was labeled and placed into a folded paper.

Sticks wrote the name of another plant and neatly added it to the pile. "Jewelry, charms, salve, tea and inhalants. One of them is bound to work."

"If not, I'm going to have to buy my shoes and razors in bulk," he said and scratched at his face again. "I shaved this two days in a row and look at me," Sonic said as he referenced his chin and how long the hair was. "I'm like 'Bear Grillz'."

"He had the best reality cooking show; I wish they'd renew it for a new season. I wonder if he got many beard hairs in his food." Sticks gave Sonic's chin a scratch and made his foot tap. "Now that I'm looking at ya, this wasn't there this morning." She stopped. "Your chest too."

"Aw," Sonic said and held his foot still again. He looked down and noticed he was floofier there too. "I hope it doesn't get worse."

Sticks chuckled, "If it keeps coming back on ya, you can sign up for Barker's circus as 'The Amazing Bearded Werehog'."

"Forget that. I like getting paid for work," Sonic said with an eye roll.

"Do you get paid now?"

He thought about it. "...no, but Barker's a douchebag. I feel bad; poor Hugh is stuck with him."

Sticks laughed. "I don't think he's 'stuck' so much as he's 'bored'."

"You think?"

She nodded. "Why else would he be sticking around? Jungle's a big place. He's probably lived alone so long, he's curious to what's going on in the world. Now that Shadow taught him English, he's able to communicate easier. When he's done with Barker's shenanigans, he'll bounce. Plenty of places to go and food to eat out here," she said and grabbed a random berry off a random bush to eat. "Mmm, peppery." She grabbed a few more and placed them in the basket.

"Should you be doing that? Since Knuckles run in with that 'insanity pepper', I've got reserves about random jungle fruit."

Sticks shrugged it off. "Fifty-fifty. It may turn out for the best and I get a good meal; other times, I wind up in a strange place and need to track my way back. Either way, I learn something new and get to put my survival skills to the test."

Sonic felt horrified. "We literally lost Knuckles for more than a day. Be careful."

"While those paternal instincts are appreciated, when am I not careful?" Leaves crunched behind her. With a quick motion she grabbed Sonic and hid them both in a bush. She quickly reached her arm out and pulled in the basket without spilling it. "I think it's a raptor...shh."

"I don't think it was anything," he said and poked his head out and saw a tiny animal a short distance away. "I take that back, it's a bunny."

Sticks stood up from the bush, threw her boomerang and successfully subdued the meat, "Yes! Dinner!"

"Nice shot," Sonic said.

They started to walk back with a basket full of plants and one rabbit for barbecue. "I'm thinking: Stew. One rabbit isn't enough for how many people we got." She counted on her fingers. "Me, Amy, possibly 'you' as a werehog, Mina, Re'kar, Knuckles, Jules," Sticks said and took note of the smallish rabbit she'd caught.

Since Sonic planned to avoid the luau, they did need food to bring home. "Why don't we get more? I'm kind of in the mood for rabbit stew now. I'll see if Knuckles can send Amy that recipe he made before and we can make that tonight." He sent a message to Knuckles through his communicator.

Sticks brightened up significantly. "There's still a couple hours till sundown. I know where a few warren's are."

"Sure," he agreed.

After a few attempts, some more successful than others, they walked away with an additional three carcasses.

When they arrived back, Sticks laid the foraged flowers out on the counter. Sonic put the meat in the sink to be cleaned. "Did you hear from Knuckles?" he asked.

"Yes, he sent me the recipe already." Amy hugged Sonic and breathed in deep, "Why do you smell good enough to eat? What's this?" She reached up and examined the charm around his neck beneath his scarf.

He grinned wide. "Sticks made it. We're hoping this is going to stop the transformation. I want more control over when it happens." He went the sink to skin and clean supper.

"Amy, where's your mortar and pestle?" Sticks asked from the bottom kitchen cupboards.

"I moved it to the bread box," she said.

Sticks retrieved the items and brought them to her work area. "Why there?"

"I use it to crush stale bread to crumbs, for cooking."

She nodded, "Got ya." Sticks opened a book she'd translated. Hand written notes in English were stuck in various pages. She began to add ingredients to the mortar.

"What are you making?" Amy asked as she approached and sat at the counter opposite where Sticks worked.

She multitasked her work and spoke. "We're trying all the remedies at once. This here'll be a salve he can apply nightly."

"All of them at once? How'll you know which one worked?" she asked.

Sonic said, "We'll start taking them away one by one and see if I transform. We figured doing things that way would be quicker than trying one each night until we get it right."

Amy nodded. "Smart thinking."

"I do that occasionally," he laughed.

"I also want to let you know that I informed Re'kar about this whole ordeal. He didn't quite believe me. I was wondering if you'd be willing to transform tonight, to show him."

Sonic nodded. "I can do that." He took off the necklace and checked his watch. "Where is he? My transformation happens in an hour'ish."

"He's at the luau with Knuckles, Jules, Xaun and Staci."

"Staci?" Sonic and Sticks asked simultaneously.

Amy laughed. "Do you remember the night of Mina's interview?"

They nodded.

"Apparently, after Knuckles bailed Xaun out, Staci approached him and offered a ticket to actually _go_ to the interview. She was all impressed with his 'bad boy' aspect."

"Oh yeah, such a rebel," Sticks scoffed sarcastically.

"I know," she said with a chuckle. "I rewatched the interview Tails recorded and you can actually see him in the audience with Staci. So, he's not lying."

"Good for him. Knuckles said he told Xaun to meet more people and to get himself out there more. I'm glad he's finding his way," Sonic said as he worked at the sink.

"I need one more thing before I can cook. Well, a couple things, but there all in the same place." Amy made a small list of ingredients and sent it to Sonic. "I need: Parsnip, carrots, celery, thyme and pink rock salt. I've got to get to the grocery store for a real order soon. No more of this living off takeout."

"We did say we were cutting back on that," Sonic looked over the list.

"Twenty should cover it," Amy said and wired him the money.

"Okay, I'll finish this and go get that." He looked at his watch. "Plenty of time." Sonic got all four rabbits ready to be basted and grilled. "Do you want the pelts?" he asked Sticks.

She nodded with a "Uh-huh," and continued to work.

"I'll lay them out back to dry," he said and placed them behind the house, over the railing. "Be back in a minute," he said through the hole in their living room window. "I'll also price a new window while I'm out."

"Thanks," Amy said while she peeled potatoes at the counter.

Sonic sped into town, to a local vendor's home. The guy owned an actual shop, but still sold veggies from his home during the luau. "I always appreciate your business, Sonic," said the male fennec fox, named Fenn. He left the front room. He gathered the ingredients from his pantry. "An extra three hours of lost work a week adds up for my employees."

Sonic spoke a little louder to be heard in the next room. "I feel ya. Don't worry, it won't be for too much longer. When the population gets larger, we'll have to keep the shops open regular hours, even during the luau." Sonic looked at his watch. "All I need is a minute to get home," he said quietly to himself. He still had a half hour.

"Hang on, I left the parsnips in the shed. I'll be right back," Fenn said and stepped out his back door.

Sonic sighed and looked around Fenn's living room. It was minimalistic with only a single chair, one love seat and a small, black and white television on a small table made of a large tree cross section.

Suddenly, he felt it. "What?" He looked at his watch and his arms were quivering. "Not this time!" He quickly kicked off his shoes and went full werehog in the middle of Fenn's living room. One shoe was half off when he transformed. It didn't tear, but it got stuck. He fell over trying to remove the jammed footwear. "What the hell?" he exclaimed, pulled the shoe off and ran into the nearby bathroom. He locked the door. "What the hell?" he repeated and looked at his communicator. "At least the straps are stretchy on this thing." He dialed Amy. "Big problem!"

" _Your voice? Are you?!_ " Amy asked.

"Yeah, I transformed twenty minutes earlier than I thought I would. I guess the timing isn't as precise as we originally thought."

" _Where are you?_ "

"At Fenn's house, picking up food. He's in the shed looking for something, I'm hiding in the bathroom."

Amy sounded like she dropped what she was doing. " _I'm coming to get you in Blue Force One. I'll distract Fenn and you get out._ "

"Everything okay?" Fenn asked as he knocked.

"Shithesatthedoor," Sonic said quickly and quietly into his device. "Yeah, I'll be out in a minute." He attempted to speak in a slightly higher register.

"A-alright," Fenn said and walked away.

"Hurry," Sonic frantically said.

Amy showed up in a matter of minutes. She knocked and let herself in. "Hello," she said.

"Oh, hi, Amy. Sonic's using the restroom."

"I forgot to ask you something. Mind if we talk for a minute?"

"No problem," he said and they went into the kitchen to talk.

Sonic sneakily left the house and leapt across rooftops to avoid detection. He made a mistake and landed on the Lightening Bolt Society's meeting hall. The boards gave out instantly and he went straight through to the meeting table, and meeting taking place, below.

Shouts and a couple screams were abound as the meeting scrambled away from the beast in the room.

Sonic tried to wave his hands to show he was alright, but ended up using them to shield his head. "It's okay, it's okay, it's me, it's Sonic!" he said as he received several wacks to the face with a wooden broom.

Belinda ceased her onslaught while her husband tried to pull her to safety. "Sonic? Really?" She and Charlie relaxed.

"Yes, we're cool," he said with a toothy smile and thumbs up.

Belinda and Charlie believed him, the rest stayed huddled.

She laid the broom down. " _So_ , you're a werehog, like Hugh."

Sonic wiped dirt from his forehead. "Yes. It's a long story but you don't need to worry, I'm still me, I'm not wild or anything."

"Who knows you can do this?" Charlie asked with tightly folded arms.

Sonic's heart sunk. He sensed impending doom. "N-not a lot of people. I suppose you wouldn't mind keeping this a secret...would you?"

Belinda extended a hand and helped him to his feet. "Of course. We _do_ need to have our roof fixed."

He picked up his shoes. "That's fine. I can-"

She interrupted, "-then we'll see what you can do for us. It'd be a shame if the village knew there was an uncaged werewolf running around."

"Werehog," Sonic corrected her.

"Call it 'mud' for all I care. All I know, is that the towns people may be okay with this freaky new side of you, but the guests may not. That would be bad for business, now, wouldn't it?" she continued.

Sonic's heart had sunk all the way to his bare, sports taped feet. "It wouldn't."

Belinda put her arm around him and showed him to the door. "Now, Mama-B doesn't want to send you out into the cold like this. We can give you the tablecloth to hopefully mask your hideous visage while you scurry home."

"Hey...words hurt," he said.

"Do they? I don't know if you noticed," she said and grabbed his face, "But I'm evil!" She got closer. "Very evil. Do you understand? Say 'yes, Mama-B'."

Sonic grumbled. "Yes, Mama-B. What do you want me to do?"

Belinda let go. "Not sure. We'll keep in touch."

Charlie reached behind her and picked the table cloth off the busted piece of furniture. He wrapped it around Sonic and tied it like a hooded cape. "Not just the roof, but the table and table cloth too. We won't want this back. It's going to smell like black licorice," he said and stepped back.

"Licorice? Huh," he said and had a side thought. "Fine," Sonic sighed and crouched down. The cloth, with a wax stain, hid his digitigrade legs and lengthened tail. He took his leave.

Belinda turned around. Her crew was still up against the back wall. They continued their cowardice. "Next order of business, since I heard more than one of you..." she said and put demanding fists on her hips and took a step towards them. "...which, out of all you grown-ass men, scream like little girls?" She asked the room full of grown-ass men.

She received no verbal answers, only accusing fingers that pointed at any other member but themselves.

* * *

Hehe, antagonists are fun. ;P


	65. Chapter 65: Session

Little bit of filler here. :P

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 65: Session-**_

* * *

Sonic arrived home. He unknotted the dingy table cloth and dropped it in the kitchen bin.

"You took a bit longer to get back. Was it crowded?" Amy asked. She had resumed vegetable peeling.

"No. I went through the roof of the Lightening Bolt Society's meeting hall. Even though I offered to fix it, they're still threatening to tell people about this-" he referenced himself, "-if I don't do them additional favours."

"What favours?" Amy asked.

"Belinda said she'd have to think about it. It doesn't help the entire group was there. Except for BG and Staci, I think."

"What a pack of asses, huh," Mina said and waved a hand over the back of the couch.

"Right! You're here!" Sonic quickly grabbed the table cloth from the bin and shielded himself. "I forgot, you weren't told about this yet." He then saw his communicator had missed a message only a minute ago. He was in a rush to get home and he didn't hear his device beep. "That was probably your message," he said and checked it. "Yeah, that was you."

Mina sat up and looked at the man behind the curtain. "The werehog thing? No prob, Tails let me in. Let's see it," she said as she leaned over the back of the couch.

"Remember: I'm still me. Okay? No screaming necessary. I've had enough of that for tonight." He slowly lowered the cloth and revealed his wereform.

Her mouth dropped open. "That's badass," she said and crawled over the back of the couch toward him. She got close to look for discrepancies. "That's not makeup or a costume, it's real." She watched him blink and swallow a lump in his throat. "Don't be nervous. This is wild. First teleporting, now werehogs. Crazy. Insane. I love it!"

He smiled wide. "That's a relief. Belinda called me 'hideous' before they kicked me out."

"She _sounds_ hideous; best to ignore her." Mina laughed and examined his teeth. "I see a career as a 'whitening strip spokesperson' in your future," she said and turned to the kitchen, "It seems these two were content leaving it as a surprise."

The other two girls giggled. "I told you his appearance would be shocking," Amy said.

"That's an understatement. I expected it, but it's still shocking." She folded her arms, "I don't get the difference between magic and technology. Do you know which this is?"

Sonic shrugged and threw the tablecloth out once again. "Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe both. I'd talk to Jules; she seems a bit more in tune with magic because of her faith."

"I'll do that. Whatever it is, it's baller," she said and pet some of his quills. "I'm sorry. May I?"

"Go right ahead." Sonic rolled over on his back with his four limbs in the air.

Mina smiled wide and gave him belly rubs. "Who's a good boy?"

He laughed, "Me. It's me. You're talking about me. I'm a good boy," he said and hung his tongue out as he basked in the attention. They all laughed.

"It occurs to me," Amy said and grabbed something from the freezer. "I tried to leave it on the counter, but it smelled too strong. Here," she said and got Sonic and Mina's attention. She held a small, neatly wrapped, white package above his face. "I forgot to tell you earlier, but Re'kar gave this to me for you and Mina. Based on the smell, I think I know what it is." She dropped it for him to catch.

Sonic sat up and gave a smell. "Woah, that's potent."

"Ooh, is that the green? Let's get a whiff," she breathed deep. "And that's through the package. Nice." Mina turned to Amy, "I'm assuming you don't want this in the house. How far away from the door, and or hole, do you need us?" She hooked a thumb at the plastic taped to the window opening.

Amy pointed toward the back of the house. "Instead of standing around, there's a little patio out back."

"Excellent. Shall we," she said and helped Sonic to his paws.

"We shall," Sonic agreed. He heard voices. "Hang on, I think we have more company."

They listened. "I don't hear anything," Sticks said as she washed off the grinding tools she used.

"Wait for it," Sonic said and tilted a big ear in the direction of the sounds and followed it like a radar. He stood near the door ready to open it suddenly.

It took everyone a few more seconds to hear, but they too heard Re'kar's booming laughter as it approached the house. There was an additional knock at the door.

Sonic whipped open his front door quickly and stood face to face with Re'kar. "How you doing!"

"What the shit!" he yelled and attempted to punch.

Sonic leaned back and dodged it and stood up again. "Jumpy much?"

"You cock!" Re'kar shook his semi clenched hands at Sonic's throat in an anger that slowly bled into hysterical laughter. He hugged the werehog. "Seeing is believing, friend."

"Yes, he's already drunk, if you're wondering," Jules said.

He let Sonic go and snapped a finger gun at her. "I haven't drank since Al-Ma was born. I earned this," he said and entered the house with the others. "Did you get the thing I gave Amy?"

"Yeah, we were going out back for a session right now. Wanna join?" he addressed the group that just arrived.

"Hell yeah." He smiled wide.

Knuckles put a couple more ingredients out on the counter next to Amy. "You guys go ahead. That stuff makes my skin crawl," he said and rubbed from his shoulders to his elbows uncomfortably. "I'll help out here."

"I'll get out of your way," Sticks said and went to the opposite side of the counter.

The six all sat out back on the patio. Sonic perched himself on the centre rock while the others either sat on the deck or railing.

Mina started the session and blew smoke into the night sky. "Tails and I were going over locations for my concert in three weeks. This spot here-" she said and held out a hand to the surrounding area. "-is perfect." She passed the joint to her left to Staci. She lit a second joint to pass in the opposite direction.

"That's perfect. Amy was a little worried about going because of her pregnancy. And in three weeks, she's going to be so much bigger." Sonic sighed.

"Ya nervous?" Xaun asked and was handed the joint.

"Yes and no. I'm not worried about being a parent. They're hungry, feed em, if they're dirty, clean em, if they're lonely, hug em. Since I don't work a regular job, I can sleep when they sleep, so being overtired isn't a problem either. The baby portion is the least stressful. The thing that gets me is the actual 'birth' itself. It's going to hurt."

"That's only going to take hours, though. Amy's tough, she'll be fine," Staci said comfortingly and passed the joint to Jules.

"And they have drugs that can dull the pain during birth, too," Jules said and passed the joint to Sonic.

"I know." He was handed both joints at once, from Re'kar on one side and Jules on the other. "..." He held them between his fingers and hit both at once. He grabbed each one with a separate hand and stretched them to either side of him.

"That's fucking boss," Staci said at the arm trick.

"How far can they go?" Mina asked.

Sonic looked around. "...see that tree over there? It's got crab apples on it."

They looked, saw and then nodded.

"Watch," he said and stretched his arm nearly twenty feet away and plucked an apple.

"Accuracy to boot," Re'kar said with a smoke filled laugh.

"If only it was edible," he said and threw it with a stretchy arm towards the ocean over his back. Sonic squinted and tilted an ear. "...aaaand, it hit the water."

After their session, Xaun and Staci said their goodbyes. They left to meet with Staci's friends in town, for the rest of the luau. When they were a safe distance away from the house Staci hugged Xaun and squealed. "You didn't tell me Mina was going to be there!" She bounced happily as she held his hands.

Xaun shrugged, "I had no clue she was coming either."

Staci composed herself. "Okay...we can't tell BG about this. If she discovers we got baked with Mina, without her, she'll have a conniption fit."

"She's the one who wanted to drink tonight. She did this to herself," Xaun said.

Staci nodded. "I know...it just sucks on her part that she didn't intend to get _that_ smashed. Now as it stands, we got to get stoned with Mina, while BG gets to wake up in the house of the biggest nerd in town...no, second biggest. Mark the tapir has him beat by far. Plus, Mark's actually a creep. He writes fanfiction about Team Sonic that really makes you question his perception of the world around him. I don't know if he still does that, but he does have tours for people who want to get a glimpse of their homes. Seriously, why didn't Sonic put up curtains in his old house? Or a door? Hopefully Knuckles and Jules can get it sorted. I think they're a cute couple. We had one echidna on the island for decades and now there's four. I know Re'kar isn't staying, but still, that's a a four-hundred percent increase...and...what was I talking about?" Staci let her thoughts wander.

"...don't tell BG about Mina," Xaun said.

Staci snapped her finger a few times, "Right, right. Let's meet up with peeps and stuff our faces. I can smell the food from here and I'm turning inside out with hunger."

"Staci?" Xaun said as he followed her.

"Huh?" she turned and asked.

"This way," Xaun said and led her in the right direction.

She laughed. "I swear, I live here."

He laughed too, "Sure you do."

* * *

:)


	66. Chapter 66: Get Together

O.O

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 66:** **Get Together** **-**_

* * *

Sonic and the others came back in the house. "Amy," he said as he put a chin on her head. "Food. Soon. Yes?"

"What?" she asked with confusion.

Mina laughed as she scrolled through her tablet for music. "He got too high and stopped forming complete sentences."

"Again. Food? Yes?" he asked with a dopey smile while he pawed at Amy's dress. "Soft."

She allowed it while she continued food prep. "Not sure," she said and pat his head.

"Let me check," Knuckles said and looked into the pot of boiling meat. He used tongs and picked up a piece. It was stuck to the bone. "An hour or more, at least."

"But. Food. Dying..." he said and trailed off and snuggled down into Amy's neck-shoulder nook.

"I brought leftover pizza from earlier today," Mina said.

He released Amy and turned to the fridge. "YAS!" Sonic declared and opened the appliance. There sat a bulging box that smelled amazing. "Meat. Veg. Greek," he said before he opened the box. The opened box revealed the pizza mountain. "Bingo." He meticulously put each slice on the wire rack until it was full. He turned it on and hit the light to watch the slices carefully. "Soon," he said quietly and parked himself on the floor in front of the oven to watch.

"Hey, Knucks, tell Re'kar what you told us a minute ago," Sticks said as she folded up the last of the plants to take and dry at home.

"Eh?" Re'kar asked as he sat at the counter top and assisted in chopping veg.

Knuckles talked and worked at the same time. "Xaun was talking to me about 'soultouch' last week. I forgot about it till now, but, he think's it's possible he's already found his soultouch partner. Problem is, he met her in a blackout at a concert a couple years ago. He's got an idea of who it may be, but he has no idea what her name is or where she was from."

Jules raised an eyebrow, "Is that possible?"

Re'kar absorbed the information. "Absolutely. I think I know what concert he's talking about. I remember he was really excited about being able to go to concerts when he turned eighteen. What was the big one...?" He thought. "Jules, you went to it too, didn't you?"

She shook her head. "Long ago. Not that one though. I was planning on going, but I couldn't get time off work. You're talking about 'Fest of Four'. Four bands a night for four days. It's frigging huge! Ya get people from all over the continent."

Knuckles nodded. "Yeah, that's the one he mentioned. He said it was on the last day. He's got tons of pictures with girls from the first three days, but the last day, only one other girl is with him. He said she was a teal coloured echidna with blue eyes. Apart from that, nothing."

"I wish he'd have told me about this sooner. I may be able to track her down," Re'kar said.

"He was worried you'd be upset he was so careless."

Re'kar gave it some deep thought. "Kind of. Still, it would explain his behaviour. I thought it was because he was out of grade school and 'a free man', so to speak. I'll mention something to him before I leave tomorrow."

"Does this mean you're cool with him staying with us? Seriously, I don't mind. Do you, Knuckie?"

"Not at all."

Re'kar shoved all the food he chopped forward and grabbed more. "If you can put up with the little shit for now, that'd be great. Shame he's going to drop out, but experience is experience, regardless of where it comes from. At least he can get half his tuition back. I'll wire it over to him when I get it." He took a bite of raw rutabaga. "Curious: You got booze here?"

Mina waved from the couch. "I was going to order drinks, what are we having?" she asked as she started playing some gentle trance music.

"Nah," Sonic said as he patiently waited for the pizza to sizzle.

"Coconut rum," Knuckles said.

"Make it two. That was some good shit," Re'kar said and reached for his wallet.

"It's alright. My way of thanking you for the weed," she said.

"Not gonna argue," he said and put his wallet away in one of many belt pockets.

"I'm in the mood for beer. That citrusy one they make here: Velvet Orange," Jules said.

"That sounds sexy. I'm getting a two-four," she said and began to place their order. "Sticks? What are you having? My treat," she said with a smile.

Sticks blushed. Before her brain kicked back in, her lips spoke, "Can I try one of those beer? I don't usually drink."

Mina giggled. "Sure."

"Literally, you drank once, by accident," Amy said and chuckled.

Jules spoke up, "They're pretty tame. I think they're only four percent."

"I'll get him to pick up club soda, coconut extract and ice. That way Amy can have a Pina Colada mocktail." She sent out the order to her staff.

"Aww, that's sweet, thank you." Amy filled a pot in the sink with water and dropped in all the veggies that waited to become stew.

"Done," Sonic said as he opened the stove.

All the slices were laid out on the coffee table atop a serving tray.

"I had pizza earlier today. You can all help yourselves," Mina said as she changed the music to light ambient astral sounds. Everyone dug in.

Sonic bobbed his head to the building beat. "Nice," he said and sandwiched a meaty slice and a Greek slice together and took a bite. "So good."

"Progress! We're up to two words again," Re'kar laughed and picked up a slice of pizza. "I never seen a pizza like this. You said it was Greek? Olives and feta cheese on pizza is bizarre, but I'll go for it." He tried and loved it. "Holy shit...I'm gonna have to talk to Mac about getting this on the menu."

"Oh yeah," Sonic said in agreement and took a huge bite that filled his mouth. Mid chew, his body shrunk back down to normal size. He nearly chocked on the food that no longer fit in his mouth. People jumped to help, but Sonic held up a finger and signaled them to wait. With a belabored, elongated chew, he managed to swallow the pizza a little bit at a time. "So...weed and pizza is the cure? Is that what I'm seeing here...or am I just really high? I'm not a werehog am I?" He looked at the front and back of his hands. "Nah, I'm not."

Everyone was speechless.

Re'kar blinked a few times in confusion. "I take it that wasn't supposed to happen?"

Sonic shook his head. "I'll call Tails. He should still be up," he said and dialed his friend.

" _Hello?_ "

"Hey, Bro, guess what?"

" _What is it?_ "

"I'm not a werehog right now."

" _Really?! You found a treatment, or, a cure?!_ "

"Not sure what to think. I was eating pizza when I turned back."

" _Pizza's the cure to being a werehog?_ " he said skeptically.

"That's what I said! Specifically, pizza _and_ weed. I'm very high. Verrrry high." He heard a strange sound in the background. "Do you have company?"

" _Uh, I, well,_ " he started to say.

Mina piped up as she helped put the veg in the stew. "Cream got into a real bad fight with her sister, so she's crashing on his couch."

"Aww, good man," he said warmly.

Tails laughed shyly. " _I try. Anyway, we can go over a few things tomorrow. Barker's using the Faux-Moon tonight, but we can do some experiments in the morning if you like. Just one request._ "

"Name it," Sonic said happily.

" _You're not to tie me to anything. Got it?_ " he said with a chuckle.

"No promises. Over and out, good buddy," he said and laughed.

" _Goodnight._ " He ended the call.

Sonic turned to the rest of the room. "Do we carry on as normal?"

"I don't see a reason not to," Amy said.

The delivery guy knocked on the door. Mina got up, paid and then the party finally began.

A couple drinks in and there was an additional knock at the door. "Oops, bothered the neighbours," he said and opened the door. "Oh, hey, Hugh. Come to party with us?"

Hugh leaned down to Sonic's level and ignored the question. "Where is it?" he asked and let himself in to begin sniffing the floor like an insane man.

"What the hell?!" Re'kar was held back by Knuckles and Jules.

"It's okay, that's Hugh. He's a werehog too," Amy said as Re'kar was calmed and freed.

"Is there something in the water, or what?" he asked and picked his drink up again.

Hugh went up to him and stood up. "Do you have it?"

"Have what?" he asked as he looked up to the towering werehog with a bit of nervousness.

"I could smell it from the luau. It's a type of plant. I haven't smelled any since the lab was opened. I can't drink alcohol but they let me have that stuff instead."

Re'kar reached into his pocket and emerged with a joint. He held it out.

Hugh smiled wide and took it. "No way!" He laid it gently between his lips. "Fire?"

"Outside first," Amy said.

"Right. This probably isn't good for the baby," he said.

"Babies," she corrected him.

"Ah, right on."

"Before you do that," Sonic said and sandwiched two slices as he did earlier and grabbed the necklace Sticks had made. "I wanna try something. Let's go," he said and led them out back.

It was time to experiment on Hugh.

* * *

:P


	67. Chapter 67: Blackout

I've been resting my shoulder this past week. I fucked it up something fierce. I keep putting off going to the doctor because I don't want him to tell me 'you're just getting old and that's why it's not healing on it's own'. It sounds like a pepper mill when I move it a certain way. -_-'

Yeah, Canada has free healthcare, but that doesn't cover things like medication or physio therapy(or dentistry, eye care, or other specialists like that).

Don't even get me STARTED on how badly mental health is looked down upon in my neck of the woods.

...anyway, on with the show. X_X

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 67: Blackout-**_

* * *

Sonic and Jules joined werehogged Hugh outside on the back deck for a second session. Amy sat inside, nearby, at an open window to chat with them.

"I hope you don't expect me to eat that," Hugh said as he attempted to light up. His large fingers fumbled with the seemingly miniature fire starter. Jules helped him out, then pocketed the silver lighter.

"Why not? Never had pizza before?" Sonic asked as he held two slices and a handcrafted necklace.

"I have." He exhaled smoke and said, "I'm allergic to most meat."

"Take these," Amy leaned out and passed him two antihistamines she popped from blister packs. "I read your reports and thought this might come up. Luckily, it's only a mild allergy." She looked at the clouds forming about them. "You guys better hurry. It looks like some rain is on the way."

"Right," Hugh said with a nod. He popped the pills and held his head back to swallow them without liquid. "For a flooded temple, you sure found a lot of info about me. How did you manage to get it in time? That place was rigged to flood."

"We're that good," Sonic said and shrugged with a smirk.

"I'm curious as to why the ancients did that in the first place. It seems counter intuitive," Amy said and sipped her mock-Pina Colada.

Hugh shook his head. "It wasn't them; it was the scientists from my time. Originally the drainage system was supposed to be just that, drainage. They sealed a watertight door, plugged a few spots and flooded the upper levels. Enough water would have built up to flood the entire lower levels within minutes after opening it. It was a fail-safe if anyone wanted to try and reopen Project Shadow, or steal the information."

Sonic put his fists on his hips. "They gave me and Shadow more than enough time to spin dash our way down there," he said with pride.

"Be glad you got what you did. Anything down there's bound to be water logged by now," he sighed and took another drag, then passed it to Jules.

"I got as many pictures as I could when we noticed the place flooding. Amy enhanced them with her eye-thing-sight. Eyesight. Heh, good eyes on that one," he said awkwardly and shared a knowing glance with Amy.

After they finished smoking, Hugh was gifted with the same pizza Sonic had eaten earlier. "When I'm this big, it's kind of bite sized," he said. The tiny pizza slices fit into his palm. He bit half off. "...this is really good." Eyes closed, he basked in all the flavours of spice he'd never found in the jungle. "Cheese is so good. I wish I knew how to make it from scratch." Hugh finished eating with a second bite and he licked his fingertips. "I hope there's more."

"All that and rabbit stew," Jules said with a chuckle.

"Excellent. What was the point of eating that? I'm not complaining, just, why?"

Sonic sighed. "Don't underestimate how badly I wanted the cure to be pizza."

Hugh laughed. "I see."

Sonic held out the necklace Sticks had made him. "I think this thing is what did it. Sticks had residue from these plants all over her hands while she worked in the kitchen. She touched the same taps and faucet as I did while I cleaned the rabbits. When I left the Lightening Bolt Society meeting earlier, Charlie mentioned that I smelled like licorice, so the plant oils from this were on my fur. They must have taken a bit longer to absorb through my skin."

He smiled and said, "I wasn't going to say anything, but you **do** smell _really_ good." Hugh leaned over and sniffed Sonic's ear hard enough to make it bend towards him.

Sonic blushed and twitched his ear. "Heh, thanks. But here, take a bite, I'm assuming it'll absorb quicker if you eat it. See if you transform back," he said.

Hugh bit into the jewelry hard and released the various plant oils. His slacked jaw allowed it to fall from his mouth to hand, moments later. Hugh smacked his lips a few times. "It, uh, doesn't taste as it smells. Iff'bidder," he said 'it's bitter' while his tongue hung from his mouth.

They laughed. "...maybe it takes a few minutes," Sonic said and winced from a raindrop that hit him square in the nose. He held his palm upward. "Let's go back in for now."

When they got back in, Hugh was handed a freshly cracked beer by Re'kar. "We cool?"

He gave the guy a wide, sharp toothed smile, "Of course. Thanks," he said. "I can't drink much. I should be able to handle one because of those pills you gave me."

"You're allergic to alcohol," Sonic asked.

"Sort of. My body doesn't digest it quickly enough, so it stays in my system really long, making me drunker than I actually am. If I try to drink like the rest of you, I end up passing out and coming to all night." He tilted the beer to his lips as he sat on half a sofa.

"Wait, what?" Amy asked and shut the window she was at.

"Delicious!" Hugh nodded as he recovered from a mouthful of carbonated orange beer. "I believe it's called AFS. My body has a histamine response and I faint. It's only ever for a short time until my nano-machines repair me. With those antihistamine pills, I'll be fine," Hugh assured them again.

Amy folded her arms and took a seat next to Hugh. "Who else do we know who does that?"

Jules piped up, "Rouge said Shadow can't handle his booze. And hey, first time I found him was passed out in a bush, so, maybe they share that trait."

"The 'Ultimate Lifeform' get's drunk on fumes? Ha, that's rich," Sonic said and lounged back next to his partner. "More like the 'Ultimate Lightweight', am I right?" He got a chuckle from them.

Mina read from her tablet, "AFS, or alcohol flush syndrome, is caused by the body's inability to produce enough of the enzyme ADH or ALDH2, causing alcohol to reside in the body for longer periods of time, resulting in a toxic effect."

"Yes, that," Hugh declared. "But, I have Black Arm DNA, like Shadow, so I bounce back pretty quickly."

"Ultimate Lifeform? Nano-machines? Black Arm?" Re'kar muttered.

With a nervous tone, "How about a jam session!?" Amy changed the subject and got up from the sofa. She threw open a closet full of instruments.

"Dibs on the keytar!" Mina said as it caught her eye.

Knuckles pointed at them with his opened beer from the kitchen. "I know you got a few drums in there," Knuckles said as he sorted bones from broth and meat, with metal tongs.

"Any harmonica's?" Hugh asked. Amy tossed him a small leather, twelve inch, suitcase. He popped it open and revealed six shiny, silver and red devices. "These are nice," he said and admired the instruments. "I think this is the only thing I can play when I'm this size."

Amy pulled a large jukebox-like machine from the closet and wheeled it near the television to hook up. "I'll set it so it knows not to play the same instruments as us." They spent some time tuning strings, programming the machine and finding keys to play in, then belted out a few karaoke songs together.

Then, "See if you know this one," Sonic said and played an opening riff on his own. They listened.

"...that's track one, from my latest album," Mina said.

"Would you be up for singing it?" Sonic asked.

"Not a problem." Mina got front and centre to sing her signature song.

Amy sat nearby. "I love this album, Mina. I got it from To-Co when we visited overseas," she said with her topped off mocktail.

"You have the disk?" Mina asked over her shoulder.

"I do. But I lent it to Tails."

"Shoot," Mina said and snapped a finger. "If you put the disk in these machines, it plays the karaoke tracks instead."

Amy's eyes sparkled. "I didn't know that! I'll have to message Tails in the morning."

Sonic and the others began while Mina sang her song.

Hugh was particularly into Mina's track. At the end he said, "New music is so different from what I remember. It's a welcomed change. I heard something like it on the beach today, too. I like it."

Next, Sonic and Knuckles shared a new song they'd been writing for Dudeitude. It was a catchy rock song with elements of rap, provided by Knuckles. Mina made memos for them to look over in the morning.

"Spoken word in song?! What!?" Hugh slapped his leg and laughed with joy. He was over the moon. He manged to transform back into his hedgehog self at that moment. "Well then! How about that," Hugh said and pointed to his half full bottle of citrus brew he didn't drop in the process. "Cheers!"

"Cool," Sonic said and cheersed with the group and shared a drink.

"This is a strange place. I like it," Re'kar said with a laugh and popped another bottle.

As they figured out what to play next, the background tunes caught the attention of some locals. Xaun, his date and a few of their friends joined the fray and avoided the impending rain. Xaun, the twins, Beth the shrew, Reindeer girl, Stratford the walrus and, his best friend, Munky the monkey, were invited to join the forming party. They all took a vow of secrecy to spare Bunny Girl's feelings.

Next, "Amy," Sonic said and pointed at her with a swagger. "I want you to sing!"

"You know I'm no good with that sort of thing," she said with a blush.

"It's a traditional one." He laid his guitar down. "I know you _really liiiike_ it," he said and went to the closet. He emerged with a banjo. "Come on. I'm sure there's a few others here who know it," he said with a grin and checked the tuning with a few banjo plucks.

Amy sighed. "You win. Sticks," she said, "I need you on the tambourine."

Sticks gave a thumbs up. She dug through the box of hand instruments and came up with two. "What key?"

"Good question," she said and looked at Sonic.

He played cords of the song. The younger locals all clamored in recognition of the song 'Sharp Eyes in a Dark Place'.

Sticks listened and nodded to the notes, then dropped the large instrument. She got up and sat next to Mina with the gentle jangles of the narrow tambourine. "Ready when you are."

The three did a rendition of a local folk song about mythical jungle beasts. Each verse added to the chorus, and by the end, the whole room had caught on to the build of the song.

Half past midnight was when it started to noticeably rain. Amy looked outside, but before she could say two words, lightening struck in the distance and sent a clap of thunder to all corners of the island.

Jules, Re'kar, Xaun and Mina were shocked, while the others cheered the storm on.

Sonic spoke up. "Should we get Tails over here?"

Amy waved a hand. "No, we should not. I'll go check on him," Amy said and got up and reached for her coat.

"What? Ye'can't go out'in this!" Sonic said and took her arm to slow her down. "Lemme go."

"You're drunk, you're not driving. I'll take Blue Force One and be there before the rain gets bad. I'll spend the night." She reached for her coat near the front door.

"But...you're leaving," Sonic asked with a bit of guilt.

She gave him a reassuring smile. "I want to go to bed anyway. You all stay here and party till the sun's up. Plus, now you don't have to go outside if you want to smoke."

"But?" Sonic seemed discouraged.

"Don't feel bad. I'll tell you what," she said and gave him a hug. "After the twins are born and get settled, you and I'll take a whole weekend to ourselves."

Beth spoke up, "I'll even babysit for ya, I bet'cha."

"Me too," Reindeer girl said.

Amy held a palm out to display all the help they'd receive. "See. I'd feel bad to send everyone home right now because I want to sleep."

"B-but?" he persisted.

"Stay here and have fun, dammit!" she said with a laugh and allowed the rest of the party to pull him away. "Keep Mr. Emotional here while I go see how Tails and Cream are doing." The others pinned Sonic down as he flailed in an attempt to get Amy to stay.

"Get a beer, hold him down," Re'kar said as they subdued the blue blur.

"Stop kicking," Knuckles said.

"Pinch his nose! Rub his throat," Sticks said and helped in the assault.

Mina sighed and opened another beer as she spoke quietly to Amy. "Come on, you can trust them." She held up Amy's coat with her free hand.

Amy nodded and placed both arms in the sleeves. "I don't doubt that for a moment, considering the situation you mentioned earlier; but Tails has a phobia of lightening."

Mina gave a deep nod. "Ooh, got ya. What are the chances that both of them are afraid of lightening and are too afraid to tell one another because they're shy and they're shivering under the blankets, alone, not wanting to speak up," Mina babbled until a light came on. "I can see a song in there." She pulled a notebook from her sweater pocket. "I'm marking that down before I forget."

"Both of them? Huh, I hadn't considered that. Have fun everyone!" Amy waived and left out the door with a cheer from the crowd.

"Come back!" Sonic yelled as half a dozen people held him fast. When Amy left he laughed as the people let him go. "It's a conflicting feeling, ya know," he said and was handed the opened beer by Re'kar. "Thanks," he said and took a drink. "I want her to stay because I don't want her to be left out, but she keeps insisting she's fine."

"We'll have a big party for Amy when she's all done being pregnant," Knuckles said. "I got a casserole she loves; I'll make that for her too."

"Yeah, it'll be tons of fun," Mina said.

Sonic conceeded defeat and raised his hands. "Fine, fine. What song's next?" he asked.

Perci picked up his guitar. "Mind if I give it a go?"

"Go for it...Staci?"

"Perci," she corrected him.

"Right," he said and allowed the new guests a turn to karaoke.

After an additional dozen times of mixing up the twins names, Sonic threw his hands up in frustration. "I can't tell you apart!"

The girls laughed because they'd been intentionally messing him up for the past hour.

"I see what's going on. I'm on to your games," he said and pointed back and forth to them. They pretended like they had no clue what he was on about. "I know!" Sonic went into Amy's planner and came out with coloured, circular, stickers. "If these can sort binder-stuff and things, it can sort people." He gifted Staci with a red dot and Perci with a yellow dot. He handed the sheet of stickers to Knuckles as he came out of the bathroom. "Take these. Now there's no more problem." He traded places with Knuckles. When he was done in the bathroom, he came out and found Knuckles had put stickers on everyone and everything. "Dammit, Knuckles!"

"What?! AH!" he said with a chuckle as Sonic lunged for him.

The wee hours of the morning came with buckets of rain. At two in the morning, a clap of thunder hit and suddenly the room went dark. The people sighed.

"Ah-ah, not to worry, party people," Sonic said and went into the closet. He fumbled around for a time until the sound of a generator fired up. The lights came back on. The party cheered. "There. We've easily got four hours of power."

Over at Tails house, Amy laid quietly on the double Murphy-bed Tails pulled out for her. He had declined sharing a bed and said 'he was fine and over his fear'.

Her sleep was disturbed by a loud noise, followed by movement at either of her sides. "Hmm?" she sleepily said.

Tails head popped up on her right. "I can't keep up the tough act!"

Cream popped up on left, "Me either...not that I had one to begin with."

They both hugged on to Amy's arms and snuggled close as another bang of thunder sounded from right above them.

Amy smiled and sighed comfortably. "Don't be scared, I'll keep you both safe."

The storm didn't last long and they dozed off till morning.

* * *

:D


	68. Chapter 68: Regrets

X_X

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 68: Regrets-**_

* * *

BG painfully woke up with a dry, wide open mouth. When she swallowed, her throat felt like she gulped down a fistful of nails. "Why does it taste like someone shit in my mouth?" she scratchily said as she rubbed her eyes open. Her blurred surroundings confused her. "The hell...?" she rolled over and saw Dave asleep next to her. He sat against the headboard, atop the covers. She didn't scream, but she threw the covers off her and over him with force. BG attempted to get up but tripped on her clothing and fell off the low bed with a thud. "Fff..." She tried to keep quiet as she held a skinned elbow. It was then she noticed her clothing was unrecognizable and didn't fit in a charming way. She began to panic and rage simultaneously.

Dave awoke. "You okay?" he asked as he uncovered himself and leaned over to see her.

She got up in a huff. "Shut up! Don't say anything! I bet you're real pleased with yourself right now!"

"Nothing happened between us," he assured her.

"Oh, really?!" She pulled out the shirt that was miles too large for her. "You took my clothes off! Fucking perv! I'm only eighteen!"

"I know that!" Dave became frustrated at her. "I didn't touch you; my mom helped you out. You showed up drunk at Meh Burger, passed out at a table and threw up on yourself."

BG calmed herself and searched what memories she had. "That's a relief...though, I-I don't remember..."

He continued, "You also puked on my shoes, in the hall upstairs and again when you got in bed." He pointed to a bucket near her feet. "But I still helped you regardless; I bet you don't remember that either."

"No..." BG blushed in embarrassment as she saw red liquid in the bottom of the bin. "I'm...not sure how this happened."

"You got plastered, that's how," he said and put his bare feet on the floor. He looked at his charged phone and all the messages regarding BG he'd sent back and forth to Staci the night before.

"I had one glass! It must have been spiked with something."

"Where were you and what were you drinking?" he asked to see if her story lined up with Staci's.

She explained what had happened to the best of her knowledge. She'd forgotten the fight with her sister and her trip to Meh Burger entirely. She finished by saying, "The bottle had 'Everclear' on the side, so whatever that is, I'm never drinking it again."

Dave nodded; Staci had mentioned that to him as well. "That was moonshine, BG. Super strong stuff. It's what I use to spike the punch at company picnics. You only need a tiny bit; it's over one-hundred proof. You could have given yourself alcohol poisoning; if you didn't already do that to some degree."

"I hope not." She brought a shaky hand to her throbbing head and felt how warm it was compared to her freezing fingers. "Can you not tell anyone about this. I'm suffering enough as it is, okay?" she asked.

"I didn't intend to, but Staci and Cream already know. Along with anyone who was at Meh Burger. Luckily it was dying down when you showed up. And the whole Lightening Bolt Society knows because Staci sent out an alert that you were missing."

"Dammit, whatever...wait, what?! Why does Cream know already?" she asked with anger.

Dave shook his head and lied, "I have no idea. Staci messaged me about it last night when I told her where you were. You're better off asking her." He pointed to her neatly folded clothing on a dresser near the steps that led to the first level. "My mom cleaned everything you had on. She put it there."

BG got up. "I guess...thanks?"

"Then, I guess, you're welcome?" Dave rolled his eyes and continued to message people on his phone. He sighed in frustration.

"What's your problem?" she asked as she picked up her clothing.

"I have to give my shift away today because I don't have shoes to wear. I don't get paid until tomorrow."

"Wash them," she said and brushed past him.

"We tried that. They fell apart in the machine."

BG gritted her teeth as she made her way into the small bathroom off of Dave's room. "I'm sorry! Okay!? I didn't mean to," she said with forming tears. She shut the door before Dave noticed.

"I'm not mad at you, it was an accident. I just don't know what I'm going to do; we live paycheque to paycheque as is. At least we have the potlucks to fall back on." He messaged and successfully roped one of the weasel bandits in to cover for him. "Wesley is taking my shift. I told him to over prepare food and bring the leftovers; that should be fine."

"Potlucks?" she asked from the bathroom.

"That's right, you and Staci weren't at the meeting the other day. We're holding potlucks twice a week because we-" he emphasized, "'Aren't allowed to commit heinous acts of evil, until further notice'."

"That sucks. Luckily, my evil is off the radar; I don't know how you people function without social media." She came out of the bathroom in her regular attire and straightened her ears. "Weekends are going to be boring, but at least I can party at the luau." Something caught her eye on a large table to the side. "What the hell is that?"

Dave looked to his workbench. "It's a model of the ship 'Hellscape' from 'Space Chimp X'. It's the scene of the final battle between Space Chimp and his rival."

She looked at the miniature figures atop the burning spaceship and vaguely recalled the scene from the movie she watched with her family a year ago. "Did you paint that?" She pointed to the flawlessly painted duo locked in combat.

"Yes."

BG was impressed. She pretended not to be. "Why would you put together a model of something that someone else made? Seems asinine."

"I usually don't." He pointed to the shelf full of models behind the desk. "I cast most of them myself with a 3D printer. I'm only putting this one together to sell to someone who didn't want to go through the trouble themselves. Like I said, no evil; I have to go legit. I may even need to sell some of my collection to make ends meet this month. A loss of four hours every week adds up after four weeks." He looked at a separate shelf of store bought bobbles and figures across the room.

BG felt guilty. She pretended not to be. "That's using your head. If someone's paying you for it, it seems a little less lame." Something caught her eye on the shelf Dave looked at. A full collection of the cast of an old show she used to watch: Darling Faeries. "Where did you get those?" she asked and contained her excitement at seeing a beloved childhood toy.

"Mom ordered them for me, from the mainland, when the show was still on the air. I got doubles so I could play with one and save the others for my collection."

"You played with these?" She opened the display case and picked up her favorite character. "The fire faerie, Claudina..." she said quietly.

"Of course, long ago. Though, not those ones, they stayed in the box; they're decorations now. The show was really well done; good voice acting, art, story was interesting. It was really ahead of it's time. Even the redesigns for the reboot look promising. Hopefully the dev team won't get delayed and it'll be out on time next year."

BG felt nostalgic. She pretended not to be. "Cute. I barely remember them by now." She put the figure back.

Dave got up from the bed entirely and walked across his room. "I have the box set if you want to borrow it to rewatch." He shivered and tossed on his dark blue housecoat and tied it. A shelf neatly lined with movies and various box sets took up his entire back wall above the sectional sofa. He leaned over and grabbed the item in question. "...here it is," Dave said with a smile and held it out for BG.

She stood there in shock as she finally noticed he no longer had braces. ' _When did he get such a nice smile? Why does his room smell so great? Was he always this tall? Why is his voice soothing?_ '

Dave's bangs fell in his face and he brushed them straight back. "It's okay. Go ahead," he said and wiggled the box.

BG felt attraction. She pretended she didn't. A deep blush consumed her cheeks as she took the box from him. "T-thanks a-and...I-I'll replace your shoes as soon as I can. B-bye," she said and quickly left up the steps.

"That's sweet of you. Thanks...bye." He waved with a confused side flop of his hand. "...hmm, what's her problem?"

BG said her 'goodbyes' and 'thank you's' upstairs and the door shut hard.

Seconds later. " _ **David**_!" his mom's voice bellowed. " _You better not have put hands on that girl._ "

He rolled his eyes. "Not until she's legal."

" _Exactly; you better not screw this up! If we miss out on easy street, it's on you! Blackmail opportunities don't always come a knockin'!_ "

"Gah! I know, Mom!"

His mother gave a laugh of excitement. " _Who'd have thought Rabbit Girl would fall into your lap like that. Talk about luck_."

He sighed. "She goes by Bunny Girl now."

" _What? Why? Ya know what, I don't care. Let the little twit call herself whatever she wants._ "

"That was the plan," he said under his breath. He messaged Staci about his successful guilt trip.

She continued. " _You know what? Good manipulation deserves a good meal. I'm making lasagna tonight. You did your mama proud._ "

Dave brightened up and yelled, "Sweet! Thanks, Ma!"

Outside, BG shut the door and looked back and forth to see if anyone saw her leave. Goat Lady and a new cat villager chatted nearby. "Easy to avoid." She left in the opposite direction, waited a few moments, then doubled back the way she came, past Dave's door and kept going. She called Staci. "Hey."

" _Woah, you're moving around this early? Colour me surprised_ ," she said with a groggy tone.

"Staci...I woke up next to Dave," she said quietly.

Staci shuffled around and started to sound more awake. " _You alright?_ "

"I am; I checked myself. H-he helped me and was super cool about the whole thing and...he even lent me the Darling Faerie box set. L-like, what the fuck...w-why?"

"Chill out. Dave's a nice guy and good at being an evil son of a bitch. You felt like two cents that he helped you and asked for nothing in return, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I ruined his shoes and he didn't even ask me to replace them." BG's mouth dropped open. "I offered to buy him new shoes...holy shit...how'd he do that?"

"Manipulation 101, chicky," she said with a laugh.

"Damn guilt trip, dammit all. That's not the worst of it...I...think I like him."

"..." Silence, then, the tiniest of snorts was heard.

"D-don't laugh, please...say something useful."

" _I don't think I can,_ " she said with stifled excitement. " _Listen. We'll go check out hot guys in the city later on. You'll forget all about his beautiful green eyes._ "

"S-hut up!" BG sighed as Staci laughed at her. "Whatever. That idea could work. I'm down. I'm going home to make some super black coffee and w-watch this-" she said and paused, "...this stupid show."

Staci spoke up. " _Don't start without me._ "

She gave a light laugh. "Nerd. Fine."

" _Put enough coffee on for me too; I'm getting up now._ "

"Kay," she said and they hung up.

BG's sister also woke up to a surprise. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw Tails asleep on the opposite side of the bed without Amy between them. Cream blushed and slid out of bed silently with her Chao egg. "Good morning, Amy."

Amy already had breakfast on the go in Tails small kitchen. "Morning," she said happily as she fried bacon. "I'll be done in a few minutes."

"Can I help?" Cream asked.

"Sure," she said and pointed to uncracked eggs in a bowl.

"Okay. This too," Cream said and took peppers, onions and mushrooms from Tails fridge. "Save the bacon grease for me."

The two made scrambled eggs and bacon with veggies. Tails finally arose to the smell. He brought out and grated cheese for toppings and flat breads to wrap it all up in. "You made an awful lot. I can freeze what we don't eat," he said.

Amy laughed lightly. "Actually, I'll replace the food because I was going to bring this to Sonic and whoever's left at the house. I think they may need this right about now."

Tails smirked, "Do you think they overdid it?" he asked and bit into his breakfast wrap.

"I'd be surprised if they didn't," Amy said and dialed Sonic.

At the house, Knuckles was first up. He rose from the couch and went to the kitchen for sustenance. The stew pot was cleaned out, all the dishes were dirty and the counter was soaked with water, booze and various other substances. "Damn," he said as he witnessed an open, empty cupboard. He turned the tap on, stuck his mouth beneath the faucet and loudly guzzled water.

The sound woke Sonic up. "What are you doing?" he asked as he looked beyond the bottles and trash from his counter top sleeping spot. One hand rested on top of his quills and the other encircled his chin to prop his head upright.

"Liquids," Knuckles said mid drink and continued on. After nearly a solid minute of slurping, he let out a great sigh of relief and cut the water. "So good!" His arm held the counter as the rest of his body slid to the floor. He sat against the cupboard and caught his breath.

"Thirsty much?" Sonic asked lightheartedly.

Knuckles drug an arm across his face to dry it. "Aren't you?"

"I am...but I don't want to move."

He laughed. "No wonder. We drank all the booze. It's all gone," he said with a phony sad tone.

"Not all of it," Sonic said as his non-propping arm reached out and grabbed a bottle with a small amount in the bottom. He shook it and some splashed around. It once again hit the counter with a thunk.

Knuckles walked around the counter to the box of beer. "Wait, there's four left in here." He grabbed all four in one hand and put them on the door of the fridge. He saw a pizza box. He opened it and revealed four slices. "No way!" he said with excitement.

"What?" Sonic looked up again. "No way!" He sat up straight and took a slice from Knuckles. "I forgot, they all didn't fit in the oven."

Knuckles laughed.

"What?" Sonic asked with confusion and took a bite.

Knuckles couldn't contain himself and he crumpled to the floor with hysterical laughter.

"What?" he asked through chewing.

He brought himself on the level with the counter top and peered over the edge at Sonic. He made eye contact with his friend. "Dude, no disrespect, but," he said, reached out and grabbed the bottom of Sonic's new beard. "You look like the Gogoba chief!" he said and was once again on the floor with laughter. "Ow, it hurts to laugh," he said through light chuckles.

"Seriously! This is getting out of hand," Sonic said as he felt what was going on with his face. Not only did his beard grow three fold overnight, it had an abundance of colorful stickers throughout. "Eh, at least it stopped itching." He continued eating.

"You're gonna leave it?" Knuckles composed himself and finally managed to reach his pizza.

"For now. So, where did everybody go?" He saw his house was relatively empty. The instruments were still out, but neatly set aside.

"Re'kar is asleep in the tub. Jules took Xaun and Staci home a few hours ago and everyone else left shortly after the rain stopped."

Sonic noticed a Meh Burger cup in front of him. "Where did this come from?"

"You had that at the back of the freezer. You said it was from Eggman."

He thought back. "Right. Drink-Bot. I hope no one drank this. It's been in the freezer for a week." The cup was empty but for a small pool of water at the bottom.

" _You_ drank it and said it tasted like liquor, freezer burn and regret."

Sonic laid the cup down and squinted his eyes in pain. New light poured in the window from beyond a mobile cloud. "I wasn't wrong." His communicator went off and he answered. "Hey, Ames."

" _Good morning sunshine,_ " she said cheerfully and got a groan from her partner. " _I figured you'd say that. We made breakfast, if you guys want any. Who's there?_ "

"Me, Knucks and Re'kar."

" _I'm going to Meh Burger for coffee's, then I'll be home._ "

"You're awesome," Knuckles said loud enough for her to hear.

"Ames, really, you're too good to me," he said sweetly.

" _I know. You owe me. See you soon._ " The call ended.

"Heh, she's cute," Sonic said and then his eyes shot open. "Shit!"

"What is it!?" Re'kar asked from the bathroom door.

Sonic got up quickly. "Knucks! Re'kar! Help me with these stickers!"

"I almost forgot! They're in your beard too," Knucks said and frantically began to help peeling stickers off of everything.

Sonic brushed them out with a comb.

Re'kar put a hand over his eyes. "Why do I have to pay for your stupidity?"

"There's breakfast and a coffee in it for you," Sonic said and tried to peel stickers off the counter.

"Heh, dummy," he chuckled and contributed to the effort.

A short time later, Amy and Tails showed up with breakfast.

She sipped her dark brew. "We passed Shadow on the way here. He had a gas can in his hand and muttered something like 'Meh Burger's lucky'. He carried matches too. Strange. I wonder why."

Sonic and Tails shrugged at one another. "Can't imagine what for," Tails said with a chuckle.

* * *

;P


	69. Chapter 69: Coming Clean

The hair of the dog trick only works if you're not that hungover, or are an alcoholic, by the by. XD

Also, I'm a little sad that this is chapter 69 and I have no joke planned for it. See, this is how you can tell planning isn't my strong suit. ^o^

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 69: Coming Clean-**_

* * *

Staci sat at the kitchen table in BG's house. She held out a flask. "Hair of the dog?" she asked her friend.

BG's stomach turned. "No way." She waited for her delicious, hot, black, bean water to finish percolating. "I'm taking a week off drinking. I want to totally recover from this before I mess myself up again." She put her cold hands on the hot, sputtering coffee maker. "Maybe that's why I was attracted to him: Literal brain damage. I killed enough brain cells to lower my standards."

Staci laughed as she poured a bit of whiskey into her empty mug. "Maybe you should let it go. I don't think it was 'attraction', so much as it was 'gratitude'."

She shook her head. "No, it was attraction. I felt it...down here," she said and referenced her lower regions.

"You mean, like, full blown sexual attraction? Wow. What happened to you? You only go for the dudes who look like money."

"I know! Right?! I must have alcohol poisoning," she said as she poured a giant cup of coffee for herself. She brought the pot to Staci and filled her mug.

"Could it be stockholm syndrome?" She blew on the hot beverage and took an airy drink.

She put the coffee back on the hot plate and thought deeply on it. "That's it!" BG snapped a finger and pointed her finger towards the heavens. "I mean, he didn't actually kidnap me, but it's sort of the same thing." She gave a sigh of relief as she sat across the table from her friend. "Glad we figured that out. Thanks, Staci."

"My pleasure," she said and extended a Chaomagotchi for BG to take.

"What the hell is this?" She took the bobble.

"It's yours." She shook her head. "You really don't remember last night, do you?"

"Not even a little; I blacked the fuck out," she said then slurped her black coffee. She looked the orange and blue toy over then laid it on the table. Staci sighed and took out her own digital keychain. "Oh gawd, not you too. I was going to take it to be nice, but I didn't plan on using it."

"I don't care what you do with it, so long as you don't smash this one with a hammer."

"Hammer?" BG raised an eyebrow. "What are you on about?"

"You smashed Cream's Chao with a hammer and then threw said hammer at her last night before you left," Staci nonchalantly said as she fed her digital pet.

Her stare went blank. "...no I didn't...did I? Did I hit her?"

"You scraped her shoulder." Staci pointed at the wall where the hammer made contact.

"..." BG's eyes welled up with tears. "I don't remember."

"Figures. I assume Dave filled you in on what happened after you left the house."

She nodded as tears cascaded over her cheeks.

"You got some anger issues, chicky."

She lowered her head into her hands. "Oh my god...I'm not going to Mina's concert."

"Why not?"

BG made a feeble attempt at drying her face. "My mom's going to ground me. I just know it."

Staci's eye twitched. "Seriously?! That's what you're worried about?" She stood up and grabbed BG's ear, held it up and yelled, "You threw a fucking hammer at your sister's head, you dumb cunt!" She dropped the ear. "I'm done." She went to the sink and dumped her coffee. She ran the water to wash it away.

"Hold on!"

Staci held up a hand. "Nope. I'm done with your ass for today," she said and turned to leave. "I should mention, if you don't tell your mother about this today, I'll tell her myself and be permanently done with your ass."

"Staci, don't go!"

"I said, I'm done! Goodbye! See you tomorrow!" She left out the front door and slammed it as hard as she could behind her.

BG was left to bawl on her own.

Bonnie came into the kitchen slowly. "What's wrong, dear?" she asked softly.

She got up quickly and hugged her mother. "Mom, I fucked up."

"Sweetie, not so rough," she said and held her hungover head and her hungover child.

"I'm sorry," she said and stood up. Her mother brushed tears away. "I fucked up, badly."

"Sit down," she said. "What happened?"

"I drank some of your wine."

Bonnie laughed. "I know you steal my wine from time to time. I did the same thing when I was your age. Besides, you're going to be nineteen in a few months anyway."

She was shocked by her mom. "You knew? Well...I drank some of the stuff that had Everclear in it."

Her eyes widened. "Oh, dear. You must feel as bad as I do right now," she said while she poured herself coffee.

"That's not the end of it. I blacked out and smashed Cream's Chaomagotchi with a hammer. Then I threw the hammer at her. Then I walked to Meh Burger and Dave took me home and said I threw up on myself and," she babbled until her mother held up a hand. "I'm sorry," she said and started to cry again.

"Did he touch you?" she asked.

BG shook her head. "No. He's a decent guy. His mom cleaned me up and washed my clothes."

"Thank goodness." Bonnie was upset, but not livid. She sighed. "Honestly, I blame myself for this."

The teen dried her face and calmed down a bit. "How?"

"Where do I start? I shouldn't have spiked my wine. I should have warned you to what it was. I should have told you it was okay if you occasionally drank, so you wouldn't have to hide it. If I did any of those things, you would have had better judgement. I'm sorry," she said and kissed her daughter on the head.

"You're not mad? _And_ you're apologizing to me? What fresh hell is this?" She threw her arms up in confusion and allowed them to flop back down.

Bonnie shook her head. "I don't see a need to be angry. Besides, I think you feel bad enough as it is; and I'm sure you've learned from this experience. Plus, you do have to apologize to your sister."

"Of course." BG picked her Chaomagotchi up off the table. "I'll give her this one, to replace the one I broke."

"Where did that come from? I thought they stopped making them."

She shrugged. "Staci gave it to me...she didn't say where she got them. She has one now too."

The front door opened and Cream walked in wearing Mina's design. "Everyone's up early? Good morning," she said cheerfully.

BG began to cry again. She ran to her sister and hugged her tightly. "I'm such a bad sister, Cream. I'm so sorry," she bawled.

"It's okay," Cream said with a smile and hugged BG in return.

"What?" BG shook her head. "Not you too. No, it's not okay."

"You were very drunk and could barely stand up. Last night, you weren't my sister; you were someone else. I'm glad you're back now." Cream reached into her bag and pulled out her Chao egg. "It's a real live Chao." Her mother and sister looked at one another then back to her.

Bonnie spoke up, "It's not really alive, is it?"

She nodded and hugged the egg close. "Yep. After my Chaomagotchi was broken, Tails offered to give Cheese life with a machine that can bring video game characters into our world. It'll take twenty days or so to hatch, but Cheese is going to be with us soon." The egg wiggled in her arms. "Ooh, he's lively in there." She gave the egg a kiss. "I also brought breakfast for everyone."

The two were in shock.

BG stood there with her arms at her sides. "Why can't you just be mad? Just...be mad at me. One of you! Come on!"

Cream shook her head. "Nah. The best revenge is 'living well'." She held out her top. "Like, how I'm rocking Mina's design? She gave it to me as a gift for helping her and Tails make jewelry for the concert."

BG ignored the fact her sister got to meet Mina personally. "...just be mad..."

Cream booped BG on the nose. "It hurts more if I'm not." She laid her bag down on the table.

BG once again started to cry in anger at herself. "Be mad...once...be mad for once in your life."

"I did. How's your head?" she asked and pointed to the back of her own head.

She felt her skull. There was a lump the backside. "It hurts."

"I sent you flying into the cupboard pretty hard."

BG smiled. "Good. I deserved it."

"Now girls...we don't tell your father about this. Okay?" Bonnie said as she noticed a few broken things in the trash and the hole in the wall.

They nodded.

Bonnie pointed at her oldest, "You're not to tell him you spent the night at Dave's; he'll kill the poor boy."

"Can do."

She then pointed to her step-child, "Where did you go last night?"

Cream blushed. "I stayed at Tails house with him and Amy."

Bonnie nodded, "Okay, you only stayed with Amy, got it?"

She nodded in return.

BG held up her new Chaomagotchi. "I was going to give this to you to replace the one I broke, but since you have a real one, do you still want it?"

"No. You keep it. It's really fun. Maybe if you're good to it, we can make them real someday too." Cream opened her bag and brought out the egg wraps she helped make at Tails house. "Here you go," she handed out the food to her family.

Over at Sonic and Amy's, a similar event unfolded.

Sonic bit into the breakfast wrap and basked in the delicious egg and cheese concoction. "I was starving, thanks, Ames. That pizza didn't even make a dent."

"Yeah, thanks a bunch," Knuckles followed up.

Re'kar gave a nod and grunt of approval as he sipped coffee.

"No problem." Amy sat on the couch and pulled her planner out from beneath the coffee table. "Today is my day off, so I'm sorting my...papers...where did my stickers go?"

Sonic and Knuckles looked at one another while Re'kar silently laughed at them.

"No clue, Ames," Sonic said.

"Maybe you used them all," Knuckles said nervously.

"I bought them two days ago," she said and flipped through a binder. "Guess I'll use sticky notes for now, until I find them."

Knuckles quickly finished his food. "Thanks for breakfast, Amy. Gotta go check on Jules and Xaun. You comin'?" he asked Re'kar.

"Mmm," Re'kar said and gave a nod. "Take care, Amy," he said and was hurried out the door by Knuckles before he could finish his food or coffee.

"Odd. He must not be feeling well," Amy said as she changed spots and sat next to Sonic. She stroked his beard.

"Can I help you?" he asked while he finished the last bite of food.

"No." She continued to pet his face.

"Having fun?" he said with a smile.

"Yeah," she said and nuzzled into him.

"Should I keep the beard?"

Amy gave it some thought. "Hmm...do you want to? I know you said how itchy it was."

He shook his head. "Not at this length."

She hugged him tightly and buried her face in his muzzle fuzz. "I'm glad. I really like it." She gave him a kiss and stood up. "I'm thinking about making chili tonight. Wanna help?"

Sonic brightened up. "Of course."

Amy went to the kitchen and opened the freezer. "I'll defrost this now...and...Sonic?" Amy closed the freezer and lowered her head.

"Y-yes?" he asked nervously.

"I'm going to ask one more time...where are my stickers?" she asked with a malevolent grin.

"...uh...it...I blame Knuckles. I turned my back for pissing time and they were everywhere!" He defended himself.

She laughed. "Come here."

Sonic got up and looked into the freezer with her. Everything was color coded with stickers. Some were shaped like smiley faces. "Huh, how about that?"

Amy laid the frozen meat on the counter. "You beat me to the punch." The word 'Chili' was stickered onto the frozen ground meat.

Sonic shrugged.

* * *

;P


	70. Chapter 70: The Vacuum

Now, time to get things rolling. Let's see how Eggman's doing. Haven't seen him since chapter 41...geez...talk about sidetracked.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 70: The** **Vacuum** **-**_

* * *

"Knock knock," Dixon said as he stood in the doorway of Jules and Knuckles home. "I had to say 'knock knock'-"

Jules cut him off, "-because we don't have a door. I know. They made that joke in season two already." She rubbed her face and sat up in the hammock she'd slept on.

"Hah, breaking the fourth wall, I see. I'm glad you're fitting in nicely. Did you give my proposition any thought?"

She covered her eyes with her hand. "I forgot I told you I'd think about it for a week. Damn," she said and yawned.

"Indeed, it's been one whole week. I was wondering if you'd be up for fighting today and possibly looking over that contract." He clasped his hands together with a hopeful expression.

She stood up and held her lower back. "Agh, can I get up first?"

"Sure. Go ahead." He placed his arms behind his back and waited.

Jules rolled her eyes. "Outside, if you don't mind," she said with a frustrated tone and pointed to the doorway.

"Yes, yes; no problem." He backed out the door, turned and stared at the ocean from the front stoop.

"Ugh." She moved slowly over to her cousin who passed out on the centre of her and Knuckles bed. "Hey, ye mobile yet?"

Face down, he groaned.

"Heh, hard 'no'. Ya take a week off the sauce and yer a mess," she said with a laugh.

"I regret my decisions. Please, don't rub it in," Xaun said as he grabbed and buried his face into a nearby pillow.

"Dixon wants to talk to me over coffee about the whole 'Robo-Fights' thing. I'm going to get breakfast, when I'm done, I'll bring back food and coffee for ya'."

"Thanks. Yer a peach." He gave a weak thumbs up.

Jules stood up with a lot of effort and pain. She held her lower back. "I need to stretch, that hammock murdered my spine." With a slow pace, Julie-Su walked and talked with Dixon as she read over the contract he'd drawn up. "Listen, dude, I can see this contract isn't favoring my side much."

"How so? Remember, touring is expensive. I need to give you a smaller cut if you want to travel comfortably."

"If I have my own way to get around, will you rewrite this and _not_ skim so much off the top?"

"Jules, honey, baby, you gotta understand I need to make a profit too. If you want that big of a cut I'm barely breaking even." The two stepped into Meh Burger, ordered then sat down.

She sighed. "I'll read over the contract with Knuckles and get back to you."

Dixon gave her a reassuring smile. "My capable entourage and I will see that you get the best media coverage and training. Not that you need training, it'd be maintenance, is all. To my credit, I did list Knuckles as a potential trainer, so you save money that way. I'm sure your own partner won't charge you anything."

Jules quickly learned Dixon was a fast talker. "I'll agree to this if he can train me and only if the rest of the team is on board."

"It's all I can ask. Now: Advertising and using your likeness. Aside from local news coverage, advertising expenses aren't on the contract. I feel something a little more viral's in order. Unbeknownst to them, I have a younger team working on the sides for occasions such as this. Little buggers want drama over money, so they stir the pot for me every now and again."

"What are you talking about?"

Dixon chuckled. "The next generation of kids love the 'next new thing'. They clamor to get their hands on the first photos or news updates about local celebs. All I do is leave vital info about your appearances in ideal spots for them to find on their own and a chunk of the advertising takes care of itself. We _both_ save money."

Julie-Su raised a hesitant eyebrow. "That _sounds_ underhanded," she said and scratched her head.

He shrugged. "They're the ones who think they're stealing from me, and I'm the bad guy in this? Hardly."

She juggled the idea in her mind. "I...suppose that's fair...but..."

"Listen, I'll be honest with you," he said and leaned forward on the Meh Burger table. "Things haven't been good for us. Rent is going up, minimum wage isn't keeping up, we're grasping at straws to stay on top."

Jules was further confused. "We're getting rid of the people's ability to do evil. I though that was a good thing? It makes the neighbourhood safer and improves the economy."

Dixon gave her a rueful laugh. "Rid of evil? Ha! Dear, light cannot exist without the dark. When you get rid of one evil, it just makes room for a different kind of evil. Like, on the mainland, when they had that bust on the mafia? All they did was pave the way for petty crime. Now the mafia is back and nothing has changed."

She felt helpless for the first time in a long while. "What can we do?"

"We? Hardly. I'm having enough of a time looking out for myself."

Wesley brought them their food and held the tray while he laid their drinks down. "I don't mean to butt in, but may I," he asked as he held their tray.

"Shoot," Julie-Su said.

"Dave loses four hours a week to the luau that Amy and the counsel put together. That's a net loss of forty dollars a week, gross loss of thirty two dollars a week. His household now pulls in over a hundred dollars less this month. Him and his mother's rent is nine-hundred a month. Take out rent and deductions and that leaves him thirteen dollars and twenty five cents a week to buy food. His mother's disability cheque barely covers her medication and physio. She has to pay out of pocket because Dave doesn't qualify for medical coverage working at Meh Burger."

"I thought healthcare is covered here?" Jules asked.

"Not specialists," Dixon said.

Julie-Su's hungover skull immediately felt worse. "I hadn't considered that."

Wesley dropped the tray on the table from a couple inches above it's surface. "No one did...except us." He walked back to the counter.

Dixon held up a hand, "And unless handouts are a constant thing, people are very much high and dry."

"What about the whole 'trickle down' effect? The town starts doing better and eventually everyone starts doing better."

Dixon laughed. "Trickle down? Let me tell you how effective the 'trickle down' effect is. Put on a pair of sandals and then piss yourself. How much piss is on the sandals? Well, _that_ is how effective the 'trickle down' effect is." He took his coffee. "I can see you're not feeling the best today, so I'll leave you with the contract and your thoughts. But know this: While you were partying and drinking your brains out last night, there were people I know who went to bed starving." His hand slapped the table and he stood up. "Dave was one of them. Enjoy your meal," he said and left her.

Jules hands shook as she picked up her fast-food coffee. She bit back tears of some bad memories. "I know that feeling all too well." Jules remembered how she lived on her own for a time and needed to steal food to live. "I hate being a hypocrite."

At the circus trailer, Hugh was shook awake. He fell asleep on the pile of clean laundry on top of a table. "I got you a hammock for a reason," Barker said and watched as the groggy hedgehog sat up.

"I fell out of it. I'm used to sleeping on the ground."

"You were out late...I thought you didn't drink."

Hugh rubbed his head. "I had one beer."

He rolled his eyes. "Looks like you had more. Whatever, I can't keep you around if you do this too often."

"Why?"

Barker folded his arms tightly. "I can't stand the smell of alcohol."

"Why?"

He grumbled. "Grr, because it makes me want to drink, you fool."

"..."

"I swear if you say 'why' again..."

"...I don't understand w...what's so upsetting. You get days off too, don't you?" Hugh carefully dodged the use of the word 'why'.

He shook his head. "It's not that. All you need to know is that ever since that distillery opened, it's been nothing but grief for me."

Hugh thought back fifty years and to a few individuals who had difficulties with alcohol. "Is it addiction? They had some programs for us at the lab when we had difficulties with substance abuse."

Barker scoffed with a condescending laugh. "They don't have that around here."

At Charlie and Belinda's, an impatient husband paced the kitchen. Belinda left the bathroom with a small white stick that had a 'negative' reading. With tears in her eyes, she shook her head.

Charlie got choked up too as he opened his arms to Belinda. "It's okay, honey. We can always try again."

Belinda cried into her husband's shirt. "I don't want to lose another one." She clenched the fabric with tight, angry fists. "They'll open a casino, distillery and a cannabis dispensary, but they do nothing for adoption agencies or fertility clinics."

Charlie held her tight. "Don't worry, we've almost saved enough for a trip to the mainland," he said and kissed the side of her head.

At Eggman's evil lair, he went over receipts. "No winners," he said and tossed the tickets over his shoulder. His console received a call. He hit the button and revealed the leader of the suffering world, Duchad.

A heavy set, chestnut brown binturong in his best military attire appeared on screen. "Doctor, good to see you. Any news?"

"You know, same ol, same ol. That volcano isn't receding as I'd hoped. I'm afraid I'm not able to get the oil. However, I have another source of power you may be interested in."

Duchad rested elbows on his desk and laid in interested chin on intrigued, laced fingers. "I'm listening."

Dr. Eggman held up a small, glowing, blue battery Shadow and Rouge had retrieved.

The middle-aged man leaned forward. "What in the blazes is that?"

He gave a wicked grin. "It's a type of technology I developed with chaos energy. It lasts longer and is stronger than any other kind of tech you can find in the current day. It's no crude oil, but it should power whatever you put it in. I can make an adapter for whatever you need it for."

"How many do you have?"

"Ten are ready to go as soon as possible. Problem is, it's going to cost to ship them in secrecy."

Duchad huffed. "I'll send a barge. Put them on it."

Eggman shook his head. "Security is an issue. I need to send it via a stock ship. The town is watching me like a hawk. If I get a shipment from a barge, they're going to question why."

"Understood. What do I owe you for these?"

Eggman pretended he made some calculations. "With labour and materials in consideration, we're looking at, fifty-grand for the whole set and another twenty grand for hush money."

"What?! That's outrageous!" he yelled and hit a fist on the table.

Dr. Eggman smiled wide. "Trust me, my good man, you won't be disappointed."

Duchad pulled out an electronic device and wired him the money. "You better not be lying or I'll send what I can to your front door to collect my refund."

"I have nothing but the upmost faith in my creations." After the transaction was complete, he ended the transmission with Duchad and opened one up with the fastidious beaver bookie. "I got your money. Sending it now," he said and sent off the electronic transaction. "And put me down for two grand on player five," he said and leaned back in his chair.

"...will that be all," he said slowly as he typed in the bet.

"Yes, for now," he said and ended his second transmission. He heard an argument behind him. He spun around and saw Shadow carried Rouge on his shoulder.

She kicked and yelled, "I can smoke if I want!"

"We quit. No." He walked past the kiosk that now sold cigarettes, past console where Eggman sat and through a door to the rest of the lab. The door shut behind them.

Eggman sighed in relief that no one heard him. He sighed and rested his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. "Tomorrow...time to gamble again." He worried about his surgery.

* * *

o_o'


	71. Chapter 71: The Struggle

I'm back! Now we're into the thick of it. ^o^

Lemme tell ya, hoooo boy, my's life been hectic. No computer cuz it totally died, I lost 20 pounds, moved to a new place in a new city, new job, new relationship, to name a few things. XD

As stressful as I make it out to be, it's a good kind of stress. I'm more motivated than ever before! :D

 **Quick recap of recent events...**

\- Mina's been dashing around the island to remain unseen. Possibly to avoid paparazzi or people finding out the whereabouts of her base of operations.

\- Tails and Cream bond as they help Mina prepare for her upcoming concert.

\- The Lightening Bolt Society found out about Sonic's werehog form when he crashed through their roof. Belinda promised their silence in exchange for 'favours', yet to be named.

\- During a get together, Sonic discovers there's ways to curb the wereform with the various plants he and Sticks had foraged.

\- Tails offers his couch to Cream after she got in a fight with her sister, BG. To cheer her up he uses her broken digital toy to create an actual live Chao for her to care for. The next day, Cream makes up with BG after a heartfelt apology.

\- BG talks to Staci and reveals a potential developing crush on Dave the Intern.

\- Team Sonic(Minus Tails) spontaneously have a house party with Mina, Re'kar, Hugh and a few of the locals.

\- There was a brief rainfall and blackout during the party. The storm prompts Amy to stay with Tails and Cream, in case his(their) phobia of lightening acted up...and it did. Amy protected Tails and Cream until the morning.

\- Sonic and Knuckles wake up covered in Amy's circular 'dot stickers' and frantically try to clean them...and they did. Knuckles and Re'kar duck out to retrieve Jules before any blame is placed. XD

\- Jules threw her back out sleeping on a hammock. Dixon shows up and talks to her about a contract deal for the weekly Robo-Fights. They briefly touch on the island's poverty stricken residents and lack of adequate employment or healthcare.

\- Charlie and Belinda grow bitter at being unable to conceive due to the lack of fertility clinics on the island, yet an abundance of recreational facilities .

\- Eggman is stressed about his spinal surgery and his soon to be visiting nephew. He's also cutting deals with Duchad(the dictator) to cope with his gambling losses. He barters with the chaos energy trinkets Shadow and Rouge retrieved from the island's ruins.

\- Rouge is stressed and wants a cigarette. Just one. Is that so much to ask, darling?

...

Okay, quick-ish...I think we're all up to speed. :D

* * *

 _ **-Chapter 71: The Struggle-**_

* * *

Amy answered a knock at her door. It was Knuckles with Julie-Su on his back. He extended a five dollar bill to her and said, "For the stickers."

She chuckled warmly at his kind gesture as she took the money in hand. "All is forgiven. Come on in. Sonic's boiling water for tea."

Knuckles and Re'kar came back in with Jules. "This is miserable," she said as Knuckles slowly lowered her to the couch. He put a pillow behind her for lumbar support. "Thanks." She tried to get comfortable. Unable to sit, she rolled to her back and drew her right knee to her chest. "There, that oughtta stretch it out some."

"What happened?" Sonic asked while wrist deep in the kitchen sink. He had tidied up the dishes and bottles from the night before.

"I think I fucked my back up on a hammock," she said with frustration.

"They take some getting used to." Sonic washed a second mug and then dried his hands. "I'm making some of that tea Hugh got for me. Want any? Should help with the pain some."

"Yes, please," she said with a wince. "I sneezed on the way here and I thought I was going to die."

He poured more water into the kettle and continued to putter around in the kitchen.

Re'kar nodded. "I put my back out, years ago, when I tried to lift a car to change a tire. I slipped on the wet shoulder of the road and fell the wrong way. I couldn't even stand and had to crawl back into the car."

Julie-Su snickered. "Kai-Li got you a skateboard to get around on for a couple days, I remember."

"Hopefully it's not so bad that you'll actually be able to get back up again," he said with concern.

"I'll be fine," Jules said and extended her leg and back again.

As the tea steeped in the background, Jules brought up what Dixon had said to her. "Is there a food bank, welfare or addiction services on the island?"

Sonic rejoined the group and accompanied them in a mutual head shake.

Amy gave a frustrated sigh. "I've been trying to get programs like that up and running for years. Unfortunately, the population won't sustain it and the government won't give us enough funding to do it without cutting other vital services. I do as much as I can and I always encourage others to volunteer, but there's only so much we can accomplish on our own. I have an idea. I'll go talk to-" she stood up.

"Amy, it's your day off," Sonic said as he reached out and took her hand.

"I get the privilege of a day off. I don't mind working everyday for a good cause."

" **I** mind you working everyday." He pointed at her exceptionally round tummy. "Those are _our_ children. When do I start to get a say in all this? Please, take today off."

"But-" she began but was cut of.

"No, not this time. Foot's down. Pants are on. Sit and relax. Please." He pleaded.

"Sonic...okay, I'm sorry."

He hugged her. "It's okay Ames. I know how you feel. It's like you forgot people and you're gonna feel guilty until you fix it. You can't change anything in a day, so take this day to, uh, I don't know, do yoga and recentre yourself." He used some of her own 'hippy-dippy' words on her.

She stroked his beard. "Okay. Go fold up the bed in the room and I'll either sit at the desk for paperwork or do yoga on the floor. Nice and relaxing. The only other thing I'll do today is trim this before you go," she said and touched his facial hair.

"Thanks, Amy. I'll get the bedroom set up right now." Sonic puttered off to their room to fold the bed into it's desk form.

"Amy, you're such a worker bee." Jules said admiringly as Knuckles helped her to her feet.

"It's what I do," she said and placed a proud fist on her hip.

Jules laid on the floor behind the second couch and got a massage from Knuckles. She occasionally sipped the hot beverage Sonic prepared for her. "I'll have to take it easy on Dr. Eggman's robots today."

"Really? How can you think of fighting when you feel like this?" Knuckles asked.

"Jules, you're in no condition for that level of activity," Amy said as she waited at the bedroom door as her work space was cleared.

"Yeah 'Kettle', listen to 'Pot'," Sonic said from the bedroom. Amy shot him a glare. "I'm picking on you." He smirked cheekily and completely folded the bed into its desk form. The mattress scrunched down and a flat surface took its place.

"The pain isn't that bad. If I can't walk it off in a few hours, I'll cancel my plans." She sipped tea loudly and drowned out her doubt.

"Don't overdo it, kiddo," Re'kar said with concern.

"I won't."

"If you say so," Knuckles sounded concerned as well. He assaulted her lower back with friction heat and gentle pressure to aid in her recovery as best he could.

After a thorough massage, Amy gave Jules a spare yoga mat and stretched gently with her until they needed to leave. Knuckles pulled a large stone from outside and placed it in the oven to heat. "That should be done when you guys get back," Amy saw everyone off to the Robo-Fights.

She grabbed a nearby broom and swept up beard hair, after which, she sat down to watch the fights from the safety of her home. She made one phone call, to Rouge, and stopped working for the rest of the day.

Downtown was hopping with all kinds of people, buying, selling, coming, going, everyone was on the move. Soar the eagle spoke to the news camera with gusto. "The 'Robo-Fights' are on once again and they're a rousing success! The Fink arena is filled to capacity, there isn't a single ticket remaining; and due to the crackdown on the area's crime, there isn't a scalper to be seen! Sorry there late comers, but the early bird gets the worm. The second official Seaside Luau is drawing to a spectacular close. Why not stop on by and 'sea' it for yourself. Back to you, Jim." And they cut. "Who writes this stuff? Where's my agent? Forget it, I'm off the clock," he said and tossed his mic over his shoulder to go line up in the shorter, VIP section with his own ticket.

The longer queue poured from the front doors and wrapped itself back and forth several times. Patrons eager to cautiously bet, safely spectate and or bravely participate, patiently waited in the snaking line.

"Jules, you sure you're fine?" Knuckles asked as the five team members headed to the backstage entrance to beat both lines.

She made a fist and laid it against the heavy door four times. "I got this."

Vector opened the back door for them and greeted the five with a wide smile. "Your punctuality is on point. We're starting the lineup now." He walked down the back halls of the arena with the group close behind. He noticed Sonic's appearance had shifted since they last spoke face to face. "I'm digging the new look," he said and touched the place his own beard would grow, had the the capacity to grow one.

Sonic laughed, "Thanks. I'm kind of growing attached to it."

"Seems like you're already attached. Follow me for the lineup, and you folks can get seated down the next hall," he said and pointed up ahead.

"Awesome, thanks Vector," Sonic said then asked. "Are you the ref?" He took note of the black and white striped article of clothing the guy had on.

Vector nodded. "You got that right, amigo. They needed someone with a boisterous voice to go on the loud speaker. The system's not up to snuff and the last ref was more downy voiced than the Gogoba's ASMR seminar teacher."

"The what?" Sonic and the group looked perplexed.

He rubbed the back of his head. "My step-daughter gets me to take her to strange events and festivals sometimes. Seriously, who wants to listen to someone whisper, chew food and crinkle paper for thirty minutes?" With folded arms, "I'll go and be supportive, but I'll be confused the whole time." They reached the hall junction.

Jules tapped Knuckles arm. "Remember: Drain the egghead when you find him." She gave him a hopeful peck on the cheek.

"Right." Knuckles nodded and waved as they went to find seating.

"See y'all from the ring." Jules waved back and followed Vector. She ignored a sore spot on her lower right side and was careful she didn't show weakness.

They went behind the scenes. "You'll be kicking back in here, before you kick butt out there." Vector led her to a dressing room packed with other contestants ready to fight their very own robot.

Alongside them were the slew of bots Dr. Eggman had entered. Each one received last minute tune-ups from a dozen, strange looking, four legged, white, spider-like robots. The foot tall, teardrop shaped maintenance bots welded or greased, while the off-white circle on their main body gently glowed. They worked and ignored the collective group of 'bio beings'.

"That's a lot of soon-to-be-scrap," she said, grinned and cracked her knuckles. Julie-Su's time to shine was the last fight, in the final tier. Her role was to, basically, wipe the floor with any surviving machines. Eggman hyped the grand finally rematch to the moon on his social media. His multi-armed monstrosity, Blender-Bot, gained a lot of support.

When she was finished her wardrobe change, without booty shorts, Julie-Su looked at the arena floor over the CT monitor. The amount of folk from other parts of the island, or mainland, grew exponentially since the week before. The crowd consisted of mostly strangers. Only a few familiar faces were peppered throughout the stands.

A few moments later, Vector popped his head in the open door. "First up, Jay Luton," he read from a clipboard. A youthful kangaroo got up for his turn.

"I'll give em hell," he said and got a pat on the shoulder on the way out.

With her mouth guard and knuckle spikes handy, Julie-Su waited for her round. She kept quiet as match after match went by on the monitor in front of her. "There're a few talented people here. I wonder if Vector's recruiting." She recalled his need of new members for his own company.

Before his turn, Julie-Su's self-talk briefly caught the ear of a nearby chameleon.

"Espio," Vector called from the door, "You're up next," he said and led him out of the room.

After over an hour of waiting and watching, it came time for Julie-Su to do her thing. Vector walked in the now nearly empty dressing room. "Showtime," he said and led her to the ring.

When the floor was cleared, Vector took centre stage and announced the next fight. "In this corner, the crushing echidna from the mainland-" Jules stepped into the ring and the crowd cheered, "-with a solid, seven fight, never been hit streak! I give you, Julie-Su!"

They cheered louder as Jules pumped her fists in the air.

From the sidelines, an angry doctor grumbled, "Let's see if she can pull the same stunt two weeks in a row." His eyes squinted at his lavender nemesis in the ring; slightly beyond her, in the crowd, his red nemesis. "Retribution!" He began to make his way through the throngs of people.

Julie-Su soaked in the praise once again and gave an extra nod in the direction of her teammates.

They gave her various thumbs up or fist pumps and shouted inaudible words of encouragement from behind protective glass.

"And in this corner," Vector continued. "A snappy mech who likes to give it his all, Crab-bot!" The robot got moderate applause. "...with lazers!" Vector clarified. The bot quickly popped out two additional tentacle turrets adorned with 'stunning' lasers and readied it's stance. The crowd cheered louder.

"Gosh, the people love lasers," Eggman's expression brightened up as he maneuvered towards Knuckles.

Vector shouted, "And, begin!" He swiftly removed himself from between them and slinked outside the ring through the only doorway.

Jules stepped forward and summarily demolished it in a brilliant display of physical prowess. Despite her cramped back and regardless of it's upgrades, she blew away the first bot with a single hit. Only tiny, unrecognizable pieces were left.

The audience let out a roar for more.

Sonic, Sticks and Tails, stood in awe. "Have you two been training?" Sonic asked.

"Something like that," Knuckles said with a shrug and neglected to give anymore information.

Sonic looked hopeful. "Imagine how powerful she'll be when we get her the Chaos Emerald."

Sticks snickered. "Better watch out, Knucks, she may even dwarf your power," she teased.

"Nuh-uh," Knuckles said with folded arms and a cocked head.

"No way," Tails agreed with Knuckles and tapped a thoughtful finger on his chin. "She's got speed on you, without question; but when it comes to brute force, I doubt anyone could be stronger than you," he pointed out.

"Damn straight," Knuckles said and ground a big fist on top of Sticks head.

She laughed as she swatted him away.

Jules casually stretched her injured back while the ring was swept clear of debris. ' _Gotta keep it simple. I can't get carried away._ ' She recognized her second victim as it graced the ring. ' _Looks like all the robots I fought from last week are back for round two. I'll be fine,_ ' she comforted herself as she squeezed her lower back. Each bot in her lineup was a bigger better version of their previous model. Either new bells, whistles and, or, lasers could be seen on each one; the current one actually had bells tied to its outside, for aesthetic purposes.

Knuckles scratched his head as he noticed them from afar. "Where have I seen those before?"

Eggman finally made it to the band of four teammates. They cheered their friend on from the closest seats to the protective barrier that distanced them from the two metre tall, circular, fenced-in ring. "She won't do so good with the last one this time around," he said with folded arms as he stood behind them.

The team paid him attention except for Knuckles who was busy mouthing words to Julie-Su.

"Unless you're too scared, of course," he attempted to antagonize the guy.

"If you're so sure-" Knuckles cockily waved bills over his shoulder and glanced him out of the corner of his eye. "-we can bet on it." His tone of voice mocked the man.

Dr. Eggman grit his teeth. "Bring it on, Nurples. I know she won't lose, but lets see if she can avoid being hit. I upgraded Blender-Bot to perfection."

The rest of Jules roster lined up at the cage door. At the back of the line, Blender-Bot preformed a few break-dancing moves and showcased how nimble it was to a couple patrons flashing pictures. It finished off with an impressive, single handstand stall. It resumed a waiting stance and patiently stood in line to fight Julie-Su last.

The doctor looked proud. "See? I programmed it to know Capoeira. It puts his showmanship up by sixty percent. Good luck with that." Eggman pulled bills out of his wallet. "A cool grand says one of my bots can land a hit."

Knuckles leaned down and poked Sonic in the shoulder, "What's a grand?"

"One thousand." Sonic reached over, separated some bills in the clutch in Knuckles hand and plucked them out for him to bet.

"Thanks, buddy," he said and held the bills out to the nearby, Fastidious Beaver bookie. "One grand says Jules doesn't get hit at all."

"And I say she does," the doctor retorted and clenched his free fist as he slammed the money on the table.

The beaver bookie slowly took their money as the fights ensued behind them. "Enjoy the fights, even though they probably won't last long." He said slowly and slowly stamped their tickets. "Don't blink-" He slowly tore off the stubs and handed both off to them. "-or you'll miss it."

Eggman quickly grabbed his ticket stub. "We'll see about that." The doctor prattled on while everyone else watched as Julie-Su trampled her third robot. "The creation she originally fought was an eight limbed monstrosity. I converted two arms into sturdy legs for better turning capability." And the fourth bot went down. "The long, segmented, flexible arms are much better than the ridged, jointed arms." A fifth bot fell to the hands of the lavender echidna. "These new arms move freely. With the sleek design I came up with, he's faster than ever." A sixth was demolished via two body-shattering punches. "She'll be lucky if she can even smudge the paint job." Jules began her fight against Blender-bot while Eggman failed to notice a single thing. "The trick with programming that kind of AI, is-"

"They're all dead," Sticks said and pointed at Julie-Su over his shoulder.

As Dr. Eggman turned, Julie-Su let out a war cry as she brought down and dismembered her seventh robot, Blender-Bot. She pinned it to the arena floor with a boot, ripped its arm off and held above her head with a victory roar. The crowd flipped for the raw display of power.

Knuckles swooned with clasped hands rested on his cheek. "She's so cute when she's bloodthirsty." He quickly turned to the desk to receive his payout.

The good doctor looked horrified as his pincenez glasses slipped down his nose. "...ech, maybe my luck's being saved up," Eggman said with slumped shoulders.

Sticks gasped. "Has there been another luck shift?" She looked at her palm scrutinously and ignored them. "This might take a while." She muttered at her own hand quietly.

"A grand can't meant that much to you nowadays," Tails stated.

"Yeah. Something eating you, Doc?" Sonic asked.

"It's...Doc?" Eggman asked with confusion.

Sonic shrugged, "Something new I'm trying. Anyway, spill, what's up?"

He sighed. "My nephew will be arriving at my lair right after this event. He's going to oversee the first stages of my surgery."

"The spine thing?" Sonic asked as he recalled the terrifying apparatus in Eggman's sub basement.

He nodded. "Yes, the 'spine thing'. I've run the simulation more times than I care to admit...but it's the same every time."

Sonic looked discouraged. "That bad, huh?"

Eggman smiled and said, "No. It's good. Each possible outcome shows the procedure going smoothly. The nano machines I tested out in my knee joints are working properly and I really have nothing to worry about."

"Then why worry at all?" Tails asked with a raised eyebrow.

Dr. Eggman sighed and removed his glasses. He found and buffed out a smudge from earlier. "My boy, if you haven't noticed...things don't go well for me. There's always a wrench thrown into my plans in a moment's notice. It's hard to put your mind at ease when you're so used to everything blowing up in your face."

"I guess so, but you gotta keep trying, no matter what," Sonic encouragingly said.

"Indeed." Dr. Eggman replaced the dark specs over his gray-blue eyes. "Anyway, I'm off. Enjoy the money, Knuckles; and Sonic, I'm digging the face rug." He turned and left whit his arms folded behind his back.

Sonic pet his beard that Amy trimmed for him before he left the house. "That's the second compliment. I may keep this."

"I'm convinced it's alive and it'll eventually take over all our minds," Sticks said with folded arms as she glared at Sonic's chin fuzz. "I'm on to you," she muttered quietly at it.

Jules finally left the ring's side after she finished signing autographs. She winced slightly as she walked.

Knuckles beamed as he stood up on the barrier to talk to her over the glass. "Hey, babe! We won a grand because you're untouchable! Way to go," he said excitedly.

She passed through a gateway to leave the arena floor. "That's great news. While I'd love to celebrate with you, I have a bit of a problem." She said with a hand on her back, "If I sit down, I'm not getting back up."

After the fights were over, the guests began to make their way to the shore. The whole team, including Vector, excluding Tails, met up with Re'kar to see him off. "I knew you were gonna over do it," he said to Julie-Su.

"Ugh, don't remind me." She groaned

"Take it easy for the next couple of days, would ya?" he asked.

"No prob Re're," she smiled and hugged him with a bit of strain.

"Did they give you any grief?" Vector asked the dark brown echidna.

"Nope. They seemed hesitant at first, but they're on board." He gave a thumbs up and handed Vector his papers.

The croc flashed a toothy grin. "Proof of concept is a snap for someone like me."

"Something up?" Sonic asked the two.

Vector nodded as he skimmed the papers from Re'kar. "My company's got enough members to open a new chapter here. Luckily we have just cause now. Because of Re'kar's store, the exports are gonna be picking up. We need more border security," he said and folded the papers and tucked them into his inner vest pocket.

Re'kar gave his nephew a handshake and pulled him into a one armed hug. "I'm proud of you, ya little shit." He let Xaun go. "At the town hall meetings, they talked about expanding the hospital and the bed and breakfast; I expect your name to be on the roster for at least one of them."

Xaun nodded with a wide smile. "Not a problem. I was planning on signing on as soon as the list was up."

Amy took a notebook out of her dress pocket. "I'll get you down for both. Whichever they start first, you'll be one of the first they contact."

The young echidna smiled wide. "Awesome."

The ferry prepared to leave with it's full load of people. Amy pulled Re'kar aside before he boarded. They spoke quietly for a moment. After what looked like an informal paper signing, they parted and Amy rejoined the rest of the group.

Back at Sonic and Amy's house, they sat around for a cup of tension taming tea and budget talks. Sonic made another cup of 'special tea' for Jules.

Knuckles wrapped the hot stone from the stove in a moist towel and laid it across his partner's back. "Okay, we're all set up back here, Ames."

"Alright, this is what I found out so far," Amy said and closed up her books.

"I thought you were taking a break today," Jules asked.

"I got Rouge to do my dirty work for me. Apparently she loves 'lifting' things," Amy sat back with folded hands. "It's rather glib, I won't lie...but...the programs we talked about earlier, should have been implemented long ago; as in, decades ago. I was going to call the mayor to see if anyone wanted to build on this island before we started the weekly luau's...but I found this instead." Amy held up a bag of shredded papers.

Tails chimed in, "I managed to scan everything and get the majority of it back together in no time." He laid his hand on the stack of freshly printed papers. "These are all land lease requests."

Amy scoffed. "Fink needs to learn to take out the bin more often. Some of these requests date back over two years."

"You're kidding?" Sonic picked up the sheets. "This one's for Tonic Concentration."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I thought he misplaced it rather quickly. Fink knows this store is a big pull for folks, so he wants to mute it's success by promising a store that'll never open." She planted a hand on her newly signed documents. "That's why I got Re'kar to give me a backup copy." She giggled. "He thought I was getting him to resign because of his terrible handwriting."

"How have they been getting away with this?" Jules asked.

"To the shock and awe of none, it's the one percenters, isn't it?" Sticks asked.

She nodded. "It's in their best interest to keep the population low to keep their land values up.

Vector absorbed the information. "With the war picking up, this whole island, save for the protected land, is a nice nest egg to sit on. They sell when things get hairy and bail on the whole outfit. Makes sense."

Amy nodded. "That's the conclusion I came to."

"That last bit is speculation," Tails said.

"Rouge said that when she picked up the 'bag of dirty little secrets', she heard a shredder going in another room, coupled with stuffed suits laughing." Amy found one of her old request forms. "Here's the one that would have saved the community centre. I knew it was only a matter of time before they won that battle."

"Speculation with good cause." Sticks cocked her head and huffed. "What else could it be? I tell's ya, we'd be better off with a whole new gambit of politicians. No more misleading our people with distractions and promises of prosperity."

"Their focus on industry and export does lend itself to looking more underhanded. Let's investigate a bit deeper before we point fingers," Tails said.

"I plan on. Rouge said she'd be more than happy to eavesdrop for us. Shadow even said it would be fine so long as it doesn't interfere with their mission." Amy said. "She's got the sharpest ears we could ask for. She's impartial to the rules."

Sonic thought deeply about it. "Shadow did mention Rouge's whole military career got started when he caught her stealing something. Whatever it was," Sonic tapped a finger. "Wait a second, isn't the city counsel under the impression that they're looking for minerals?" He looked at his communicator suddenly, but quickly sighed in relief.

Amy nodded. "Yes. Having precious metals around the island means we can't start any housing developments. I guess the city counsel is content with them making more of the island uninhabitable."

"More room for mines and money," Sticks growled.

Amy got lost in thought.

"Before I forget, Vector, don't freak out," Sonic said and took his shoes off. He looked at his communicator. "...three, two, one," Sonic said and shifted into his werehog form. He lifted a hand and felt the beard had remained. "So damn itchy," he said and scratched at his face with his back paw.

Vector sat with an awestruck, slack jaw. "...how bout that," he managed to form most of a sentence.

Sonic composed himself and sat next to Amy. "If the Lightening Bolt Society tells people about this form of mine, then that'll be a nail in the coffin. No one's going to move here. At least Hugh hasn't been _outed_ yet. " He got up and placed his shoes by the front door. "Okay, first thing's first, lets get Hugh over here and see if these treatments work at all."

"Hugh's not working tonight, so I'll message Barker and see if he's up to help out," Amy said and dialed away. After a short conversation with Barker she hung up again. "Hugh agreed and said he'd be over within the hour, when he finished his own business."

* * *

Holy snap...I think I rounded everything off for the most part...except for the little offshoot of BG and Dave's family's budding drama.

I have no clue what's going on with this fic, but it keeps getting hits. Like, SO MANY! I have no clue why. I mean, cool, but...why? O_O

Anyhoo, peace out y'all. :D


	72. Chapter 72: Preparations

Despite being gone so long, at least I had a shitty computer to type up this story on. So I haven't been 'not writing', I've just been 'not posting'...or spellchecking. I tried to do it from my phone, but that was a _complete fucking exercise in madness!_ So I waited. x.x

On the bright side, I'm actually glad I waited so long. I had a great idea come to me as to how this is all ending. :)

Fair warning right now: I'm gonna have to add the tag of 'horror' to this story soon. ;D

Woot woot. XD

* * *

 **-Chapter 72: Preparations-**

* * *

Eggman and his most impressive(unobliterated) robots stood atop his lair. The doctor fiddled with a satellite connection to the outside world. Tails gave him a few of his television stones from his faux-moon project to aide in communication gaps. "Can you hear me?" he spoke into the microphone.

The sound of Duchad's gruff voice came over the small speaker. "Loud and clear."

"Excellent. This method of communication is much more secure than the last one. Transmissions I send out from my lair can be picked up by any scrub with a quantum frequency diagnostics gauge. This way, I can talk freely to you and no one's the wiser. Hehe."

"Hmph, you're saying we were on an insecure line up until now?" He sounded displeased.

He heartily chuckled, "Oh, heavens no. I've been keeping a series of scramblers on each time we talk, but the power consumption was concerning. This saves me a decent amount of money. Revenue from my hotel isn't quite enough to cover my bills. I'm a man of refined tastes, I can't be living below my projected needs. Do you realize how expensive mahogany is," he said and twirled a pen in between his fingers.

"I certainly do," Duchad laughed. "You could write a novel, ' _Taking what you want and saving money doing it!_ '; haha, it'd be a best seller amongst my cabinet." A knee slap could be heard. "Down to business: Are those batteries in transit?"

"They leave on my nephew's ship in a short while. I decided against the cargo ship for obvious, security reasons." He glared at Orbot and Cubot, who cowered. They had messed around and neglected to send the package on the ferry. "Snively's crew is making a direct line to Gia'kum after he and his wife are dropped off. They'll be at your door within three days."

"Excellent. What's the occasion for the high profile visit? I'm not too fond of you getting other kingdoms involved."

He nodded. "Totally unrelated. The prep for my surgery is tonight and he's helping me get ready. Most of it's automated; all I need him for, is to push the 'start' button. Lord knows I don't have anyone capable enough around here to be trusted to push a button." He again glared at his two lackey bots who stood there shamefully, heads hung low.

Duchad sighed, "You worry me, Ivo. I have some of the finest doctors money can buy. Let them do this for you. You're a valuable asset, vital in holding down my fort. I crumble without your input."

He blushed a bit. "Being reputable is one of my most fantastic traits, isn't it," he straightened his moustache with a grin. Something caught his eye. "Speak of the devil. I see his fleet now." A series of dots appeared in the sky in two tight 'V' formations.

"I would like to request a line remain open for the duration of this procedure. Understand, if something does go wrong, I want to be able to send someone to your aide, ASAP."

"How thoughtful, thank you." Dr. Eggman's heart was warmed. "With this new tech, that'll be a snap. I'll make sure to inform Snively when he gets here that this line is to remain open at all times. Tootles," he informally said.

"Good luck and God bless," he said and ended the call.

Within a few minutes, Snively, his wife Regina and their armed guards touched down on the top of his fortress. Snively was a short man with barely a shred of hair on his head and a chip on his shoulders. His wife, who towered above him, The Iron Queen, Regina Ferrum-Robotnik, stepped off their luxury airship at his side.

Snively drew a breath in through his rather elongated nose. "Passable, my love?" he muttered to his wife.

She gave a nod and 'hum' of agreement as she straightened her long dark green braid that hung to her waist. She put a hand down onto his shoulder. "I do like this place enough to stay," she said quietly with a wicked grin.

Eggman walked up to them. "Welcome to my humble lair," he said with a bow. "Come in, come in. My home is your home."

They smiled.

Back at Sonic and Amy's house, Hugh finally arrived in full werehog form. A brief explanation ensued that kept Vector in the loop. "I can't make a call to what's more jarring. The fact there's another Shadow clone, the fact he doesn't need inhibitor rings or the fact he can _also_ turn into a werehog. I'm not used to being speechless. I...think I'm done for the day," he said with a laugh. Vector got up and shook Hugh's hand. "Glad to see you're so chilled out. Keep in touch if you ever need a night shift standing guard." He placed his fists on his hips and sized Hugh to be his height. "They like big menacing guys like us in between grifters and the gifted."

"I'll do that, thanks," Hugh replied.

"Thanks for the DL, folks. Later days," Vector said and parted ways.

"I think he's a little put off by the 'were' form," Hugh said and rubbed his right arm with his left hand. He took a seat.

"Don't worry, Vector's a decent guy. It's been a long day for everyone, is all," Sonic pointed out. He retrieved something from the fridge.

Hugh examined the salve Sonic approached him with. He leaned down and took a lengthy inhale through his nose. "This stuff smells delightful." Hugh winced at the cold smear of salve Sonic generously applied to his forehead.

"Hit the timer, Tails." Sonic said. He held the mortar to his nose. "That _is_ really nice. I wonder how long this takes to work?" He took another dollop on his fingers.

Tails watched his communicator numbers rise. "Additionally, what if the fake moon induced transformation wears off after a while? We hadn't considered that."

"Good point. We only tried it during the day and then last night with the plant stuff," Sonic said and applied the salve to his own head.

"I can try again tomorrow, to see if I go back on my own," Hugh said as he basked in the scent of various jungle plants that Sticks combine the night before.

"I bet this is way better than eating it," Sonic said as he relaxed on the couch with his big feet up on the coffee table.

Hugh agreed, "That's true."

Amy laughed to herself as she remembered the sour look on Hugh's face when he bit into the weaved necklace. "It'll be great if this works. Though, it would be best if we could find a way to prevent it and or control it."

Sticks reached into her basket. "I saved fibers from the plants. Instead of the necklace, I can try weaving some into your scarf to see if that'll have any effect. We'll do one every night till we go through all the stems." Sticks held up a neatly folded paper with long dried fibers protruding from the ends. "Dried out and sew-into-able."

"Cool. Can we try the licorice one first? It was the one that stood out the most," he said and removed his scarf.

She went through the papers to find the correct plant. "Sure thing."

Suddenly, Hugh shrunk to his regular size. "It worked that fast?!"

Tails hit the timer. "Only forty-two seconds."

Sonic waited. His own form returned to normal moments later. His legs no longer reached the table. "We found something," he declared and the room, save for Hugh, gave a sigh of relief mixed with triumph.

"I knew concentrated oils were the way to go," Sticks said proudly.

"What gives?" Hugh looked at the fronts and backs of his striped hands. "Those scientists moiled in that lab for years! Then you all come sauntering in, with plants, and figured this out within the week?" He scratched the back of his head with his elongated nails. "What gives?"

"It's magic," Sonic said with a 'magical' wave of his hand.

"Or science," Tails said.

"Or both! Ow," Jules declared, with strain, from behind the sofa as her heated rock got moved around by Knuckles.

Hugh laughed a little, "I didn't expect progress," he then sighed, "Whatever it is, I don't want to accidentally cure myself. I'm used to being this way, there's no sense in going back now; sorry to say, no more testing for me after this. I'll still use the faux-moon tomorrow if you need me to, though. But this new life of mine needs an income and a roof over it's head; that kind of hinges on me being able to transform." He looked worried.

"We totally understand," Tails said.

"Yeah, thank you for all the help and insight, Hugh," Amy followed up sweetly.

"And don't worry, man; if you 'un-werehog' permanently, Eggman's got vials chalk full of 'werehog juice' to put you back the way you were." Amy sat next him and he pat her belly.

"It's plasma." Hugh dryly corrected him.

Sticks finished with Sonic's scarf. "Here," she said and held out the garment for the team lead to don. "Since I know Amy likes ginger, I'll do the one that smells like that tomorrow. If the fibers don't work, we can always get more of these plants to make ya more goop."

"Thanks," he said and took the scarf and tightened it around his neck once again.

"How has living with Barker been?" Amy asked Hugh.

"Great. Rehearsing and preforming is actually pretty fun," he said with a nod. "I've been a little preoccupied and I haven't gotten a chance to go back to my camp to get my stuff. I'm planning on going there tomorrow before the circus and I head to the bigger city, up north."

"You left things behind? Like what?" Sonic asked.

Hugh shrugged, "It was a few pictures, clothing and some jewelry. I may have to write off the pictures though. The water would have washed them away and damaged them beyond repair. Even though it rained last night, I'm hoping it's been warm enough that it'll be dried out by days end. Something's better than nothing." He looked a little discouraged but managed a weak smile.

Tails chimed in. "I may be able to reconstruct the photos, or reprint them if you've got the negatives. Do you have anything like that? They would be stored in air tight, light proof containers," he asked as he made a relative size with his palms about an inch apart.

Hugh brightened up at the thought. He held his fingers a short distance away from one another. "Little black plastic things, about this big? They have flipable covers."

He nodded. "Sounds right."

Hugh's smile returned in full force. "I thought that's what they were. Yeah, they had tons of those left behind. If you wanted to learn more about what went on in there, that'd be a great place to start. If I could ask a favour though?"

"Hmm?" Amy hummed.

His ears and cheeks pinked with a hint of blush while he laced his fingers together. "Go in there with an open mind." He grinned with a sheepish, somewhat mischievous, smile.

"Hah, of course," Sonic said with a chuckle as he recalled something Hugh had said. "I remember you told us, and I quote, 'It wasn't always a bad time in the lab'."

He blushed more and rubbed the back of his head. "All in the pursuit of science, I assure you." They all shared a laugh.

"I'll call Shadow and see if he wants to tag along with this one. Teleporting there would be way easier than us all walking," Sonic said and dialed Shadow on his communicator. His call was rejected. "What gives? I'm blocked?"

"Aww, I thought we were all cool now," Knuckles sounded disappointed.

Sonic scratched his beard. "I thought so too. Amy, can you try, please?"

Amy attempted to call Shadow and got through automatically.

Sonic looked at Knuckles and they shrugged.

' _What?_ ' Shadow answered with an unamused tone.

"I hate to bother you, but we were looking to teleport a small group of us to the temple Hugh lived in. He wants to gather some personal belongings and we want to possibly find more information about the 'werehog' form," Amy calmly spoke to the point.

" _Are you home?_ " he asked.

"Yes."

' _Are the idiots there?_ ' he asked.

Amy laughed, "Which one's?"

"Hey!" Sonic and Knuckles were taken aback.

Amy smirked. "He's here. We're talking to Hugh now ab-," she said and Shadow hung up on her. "Huh?"

"Uh-oh, I have to leave," Hugh said with fear and attempted to get up hastily.

Shadow instantly teleported into the living room. "There you are! You have explaining to do!" Shadow quickly grabbed Hugh before he escaped through the broken window. "What business do either of you have waking me up at such an ungodly hour?!" He quickly twisted the 'black and red idiot's' arm.

"Agh!" he said in pain as Shadow brought him to his knees and wrapped an arm around his neck in a head lock.

"Wait, hold on a sec..." Sonic looked at his communicator. His jaw dropped in realization he'd drunk dialed Shadow six times in the middle of the night.

"Sit right there, I'll deal with you next," Shadow said over his shoulder to the 'blue idiot'

Sonic sat back down. He saw the last time he tried to contact him was around the same time the power blinked out temporarily. "I'm really sorry, Shadow; it won't happen again," Sonic cringed. "...but, what did Hugh do? He never used my communicator."

Hugh shed light on it. "I'm sorry, brother, we couldn't get through on the phone, so I tried to use the hivemind," Hugh admitted as Shadow tightened the headlock he now had him in. "GAHK!"

He growled. "And then, after that, I couldn't find you!" Shadow snapped. "I don't know what you were into last night, but it felt like you were all over the place! I couldn't pinpoint your location. I teleported here but the lights were out. Where were you?!"

"I was here! It was a blackout! I wanted to spend time with you! Is that so wrong?! It's been so long since I met another one of us!" Hugh croaked over the crook of Shadows grip. "No more! I promise it won't happen again!"

He let Hugh go to breathe. "Damn right, you won't. You try to pull that nonsense again and I'll-" he said but stopped short of finally laying eyes on Sonic's face. "..." He smirked and raised an eyebrow.

Sonic sighed. "Don't laugh."

Shadow held in a snicker as he helped Hugh to his feet. "Sure...I'll do that..."

"This is part of the werehog ability," he said and straightened out his beard.

"...looking like an old man?" he said asked.

Sonic looked shocked and heartbroken. He put a hand over his heart, "Right in the feelings."

"Shadow," Amy said and got everyone back on track. "We're grasping at straws here. This 'werehog' form is unpredictable. We've got a quick fix for now, but we need to find a better way to control it. Hugh said he saw several containers of film at the old temple that we may be able to develop."

Tails spoke up. "It also occurs to me, the water that was supposed to build up in there to waterlog everything, got drained out after you two punched a hole through the wall. It's possible there's still viable notes we can learn from."

"You may be on to something." Sonic nodded. "The bottom level was the only part of the lab that flooded. The library upstairs stayed dry."

"I'd rather finish my mission first." Shadow folded his arms and shook his head. "This is going to have to be put off for a few days. We have one more temple to go through and it's probably going to be more than a day's worth of exploring."

"Unfortunately, one of our members is out of commission," Amy said. "Julie-Su put her back out."

"He~y," Jules said from the floor behind the couch where Knuckles gave her a massage.

Shadow face palmed. "If it's not one damn thing, it's another. Alright, fine. We'll get this done tomorrow. If Knuckles is able to come with me briefly, I do want to get through a caved in portion of a temple Rouge and I missed."

"Not a problem," he said with a thumbs up.

"Do you think everyone will be ready to go by the following day?"

"Probably," Julie-Su said.

"You're resilient, babe. You'll bounce back in no time." Knuckles exchanged a fist bump with her from the floor.

"Rouge and I will be here at nine in the morning. Be ready," Shadow said and got a nod. He was about to teleport away when he noticed Hugh had been behind him comparing their heights. "What?" he said and shot him a glare.

He quickly retracted his motions to behind his back and shook his head. "Nothing."

"Uh, Shadow?" Sonic asked.

"..." he looked at the guy.

"What about my scolding. It kinda seems unfair you only yelled at Hugh," he said and pointed to his communicator.

He thought about it. "...in time." Shadow teleported to Eggman's fortress to fill Rouge in on plans.

"T-that's not comforting," he said and drew his knees to his chest and held them tight.

Amy surveyed the room with her mechanical eye and noticed she was the only one who noticed what Hugh did. "Interesting," she muttered to herself.

"See you all here tomorrow," Hugh said.

Sonic saw him to the door and then joined the rest of the crew.

"It's still weird to think that Shadow has a brother," Sticks said.

Tails nodded in agreement. "The way Shadow described it, was that they're genetically siblings because they're created from the same DNA; I don't know if he refers to Hugh as his brother in the same way or not."

Amy sounded pleased, "Hugh's called him 'brother' twice now and hasn't been corrected once."

"Aww," the room said with a sigh.

The next morning everyone met out front of Sonic and Amy's. All but Amy and Jules prepared themselves to be teleported by Shadow.

"Good luck," Amy said and gave her partner a kiss.

"Thanks, Ames. Remember, you promised to take it easy today. Paperwork only, you got that," he said sweetly and booped her on the nose.

"I will," she said gave him a final peck on his newly shaved face.

The group cringed or cooed at the cuteness of the expecting hedgehog couple.

"If you're very much done," Shadow said and extended his arms for everyone to take hold.

When the group was ready, they all made contact with Shadow. They were without a trace and only left behind a small swirl of dust.

* * *

;D


	73. Chapter 73: The Lucky Hedgehog - Part 1

:D

* * *

 _ **\- Chapter 73: The Lucky Hedgehog - Part 1-**_

* * *

Shadow and the group touched down outside the temple.

"Out here looks fine," Sonic said as he took a step onto the old sandstone platform leading down to the abandoned temple. The once dry brickwork was covered in a inch of perfectly clear water.

"Upsie daisie," Rouge kept her boots dry and took flight. She surveyed the area.

"I think there's going to be a constant flow," Hugh said and smelled the familiar air. "This is coming from a bottomless spring. That's how the water stayed pressurized all these years."

"Then we pulled the plug," Sonic said with regret as he placed his hands on his hips. His finger tips brushed the scar along his back.

"It had a domino effect. Each full room emptied downward after that first latch was freed," Hugh jumped to an overhung tree branch and watched the bat lady land on a nearby wall.

Rouge peered over the edge to what lay below. "Look, down here. That's where you two busted out. Those stones landed quite a piece away from the hole. It's a wonder both of you weren't crushed."

"No joke," Sonic said.

Shadow teleported beside Rouge. He looked over the edge and saw the grounds were flooded. Debris from the ordeal a few days ago was still strewn about.

"That's quite a bit of damage." She nodded with folded arms. "Glad I sat that one out."

Shadow looked over the length of the temple. "I don't feel electricity. There's a chance I can teleport while we're inside now."

Rouge looked hopeful. "You think the water damaged the generator? Why not give it a try and test your luck," she said and presented the temple to him as if he had won a game show prize.

Shadow quickly teleported in and back out again. "That's a relief." He turned to the group. "I'm going to bring you down there to get what you came for. Hugh, can you find your way from here?"

Hugh nodded. "It shouldn't take me too long. I'll wait out here until you're all done."

"Knuckles and Sticks, you two come with me to do some digging."

They nodded.

Shadow got everyone situated. Sonic, Tails and Rouge went below to dig for info. Hugh disappeared into the bush to dig for belongings. The final two went with the Ultimate Lifeform to get their hands dirty by actually digging.

The dark hallway felt endless until lit by Sticks lantern. She tossed a singed match over her shoulder. It hit the ground with a sizzle. "That's it there?" She held the light over the buried, descending staircase. The connected hallway was also buried.

"It goes down one more level. I can't get past the feeling we missed something here. This was the only place that had a body." Shadow said with folded arms.

Sticks laid the light on a nearby stone. "Body?" she asked for clarification.

"When me and Sonic came down here to look for these guys, we found the bones of a scientist named Cyril," Knuckles said as a chill ran down his spine. He rubbed the goosebumps from his arms.

"An unfortunate find, but an indicator that this place experienced a lot of traffic, right until it was closed." Shadow clarified.

"I'll get started...I hope there's no more skeletons...," Knuckles began to clear the hallway for them. Shadow and Sticks bailed dirt as quickly as they could. He paused. "Why can't you teleport the dirt away?" Knuckles asked.

"Since it's not a living being, without a solid form to hold onto, I can't take it all with me."

Sticks curiosity was peaked. "Let's say, you teleported while you're underwater...yer sayin it wouldn't take all the water around you with you?" She made a ball shape with her hands to model the dimensions she had in mind.

He nodded. "Close. Only the water directly touching me would be affected."

Shadow did his best. He maintained polite conversation while they bailed dirt.

In the semi soaked lab, the team of three stacked any dry papers they found.

"Lookie here! Not what we came for, but still a dirty little secret none the less," Rouge said and showed a book outlining a single disease, in its entirety.

"Lupus?" Sonic said and took the book in hand. It was unusually light and had a rattle to it. Further inspection revealed a notch carved into the centre of the book's pages. Within the nook, a handful of pills in an old and yellowing, orange pill bottle. "Hydrocodon? That sounds familiar," he thought about it aloud.

"Those pills are in the same family as the ones the hospital gave you for your back; hydromorphone," Tails said.

"They had drugs this strong fifty years ago?" Sonic let that process. "...these drugs have been around for a while."

Rouge rolled her eyes. "As have the problems surrounding them," she said. "How many did they give you?"

Tails did the math as he pulled more dry books from a shelf. "Two weeks worth. Two a day. One milligram each dose. So, twenty four milligrams, altogether?"

"Yeah." Sonic nodded. "Overkill. I'd have been fine in few days, even without the werehog ability."

"Let's talk to Hugh about this stuff. Much like Shadow's situation, people in this lab may have been trying to replicate the 'Project Shadow' experiments, to reach a similar means." Tails found another film reel and placed it amongst the others.

Rouge looked around to the empty shelves they'd cleared. "He should be out front by now."

"What about all this stuff?" Sonic referenced the pile of books, reports, pictures, film reels and containers they piled.

Rouge cracked all her knuckles on one hand. "Shadow can teleport it all later, darling." She made her way to the door with a nonchalant wave of her hand.

They reached the front entrance again. Hugh waited for them as he stared off into space. He clutched a small black bag under his arm.

"Any luck?" Tails asked.

Hugh nodded. He seemed to act distant when he handed off the film containers he had saved. "Are these what you were talking about?"

Tails took them in hand and placed them in his largest belt pocket. "Yes. Exactly. You weren't able to find any pictures though?"

Hugh reluctantly produced a handful of soiled and soaked photos he'd found. "..."

"I still may be able to restore them. Photography technology has improved quite a bit in the last fifty years," the plucky fox attempted to cheer him up.

Hugh smiled a bit. "I really hope so. I may have vivid memories of Dr. Shannon, but those were the last...and these were the last..." He couldn't help forming tears as he clutched a lab coat and a small kevlar bag. "I knew I'd outlive most people I knew...that's why I was so upset the night we first met. This is all I got left." He pointed to the destroyed photos.

"Leave it to Tails. He knows his stuff." Sonic laid a sympathetic hand on Hugh's shoulder. "Plus, we found a ton of info in the lab. Film included. We might even be able to get an audio recording."

Hugh looked confused as he dried his eyes. "Audio? What do you mean?" He chuckled when he realized Sonic hadn't caught on.

"Uh, audio...voices...sound..." Sonic thought about how to explain himself with better, with different synonyms.

Rouge raised a finger.

"Give him a second," Tails held a hand up and stopped her intervention.

"..." Sonic caught on that he'd missed something. "Can I get a hint?"

Hugh signed and said aloud, "Shadow was right. You are smart."

It clicked. "The scientists were deaf!" he said and pointed a finger in the air.

Hugh nodded. "Their main focus was on deafness, but there were several things they worked on as well."

"Got ya," he laughed at his own brain fart. "Right, that explains why Shadow spoke to you with sign language that first night." Sonic then noticed the new jewelry on Hugh's right arm. It looked to be a gold necklace. He'd wrapped around a few times to stay taught. "Where did that come from? It looks familiar." He'd recognized it from the skeleton they'd buried, from the temple Shadow and Rouge were at a few days ago.

He looked at his wrist admiringly. "This was Dr. Shannon's gift from the company, left to me. It's a little dirty," he said and wiped an unclear portion of the chain with a few equally as dirty fingers.

"Did many people get them?" he asked.

Hugh thought. "Only a dozen or so were made for the staff, that I knew of. I believe it was in celebration of a ten year anniversary."

"For being with the company?" Tails asked.

"No. For keeping Project Shadow running for ten years."

Back at the mudslide site, Knuckles worst fear came to fruition. "I said I didn't want to see anymore of you guys. Ah, geez," he said and backed up out of the hole. "There's a hand. An 'unalive' hand." His eyes remained squinted shut as he walked back to the other two.

Shadow swapped spots with Knuckles and went down the carved tunnel. At the end, a clearing with bones, as per the mention. "I'll move these, then we need to keep going," he yelled.

"Okay, man, I'll try," Knuckles yelled back.

Shadow pushed some of the dirt out of the way. He cleared a space to poke his head through into a clearing. On the other side of the tunnel was a room with two skeleton's in full view. It looked like one attempted to dig their way out, while the other rested against the wall in their last moments. "They must have run out of air..." He went back and grabbed the lantern. "This may take some time. Why don't you sit down and have a breather," he said and walked back down the tunnel. A dim flicker of lantern illuminated the room. He saw the first skeleton had been moved. The shadows of the two unfortunate souls within danced lightly on the walls. Shadow froze as he noticed something else ominous. "It...it's not dry enough for that to happen." He saw that both the skeletons sported a full, untorn, body's worth of sunken skin. Even a bit of dark fur still clung to it. He crouched down and saw both bodies wore inhibitor rings; they were older models than his own, but the same make.

The body closest to him raised it's decrepit hand and violently dug it into the surrounding mug. A raspy, near breathless voice croaked out, "Help...please..."

Shadow backed away.

Far away, "Any water left?" Sonic asked from within the water-logged temple.

Rouge came up from her surveillance. "Yes. But we don't have to go down there. There's plenty of ramps and upper levels to contend with. You've got two flyers on your side, so we can take you wherever." She and Tails bumped fists.

"Good," he sighed in relief.

Hugh looked excited. "It's been so long since I did testing," he said as he looked down a steep ramp.

The three silently noted his phrasing.

"Shall we?" Sonic asked. He balled and spun down a familiar, yet still dry, ramp.

"You bet," Hugh said and followed along.

"A couple of kids at heart, don't you think?" Rouge asked Tails who nodded. "Let's go," she said and followed the two spinning hedgehogs up the various ramps. Tails followed close behind.

* * *

O.O


	74. Chapter 74: The Lucky Hedgehog - Part 2

I know this feels like we're getting off track, but hear me out here. XD

* * *

 **-Chapter 74: The Lucky Hedgehog - Part 2-**

* * *

Jets ablaze, Shadow hastily scrambled out of the hole and yelled, "We need to fill it back in, now-!" Before either of the two could react, a dark form emerged from the hole with a swoosh, grabbed Shadow and swiftly pulled him into the inky blackness of the empty corridor.

"Wh-what just happened?" Sticks held up the lantern. It's light vibrated on the wall of the empty hallway as her hand tremored.

Knuckles squinted down the long dark hallway to see where Shadow went. "I-I don't know."

Everything was silent. Shadow was gone. A moment later, a small scratching noise sounded from the dirtier portion of the hall behind them.

They made eye contact with eachother and swallowed the large lump in their throats. "What...or 'who' is in there?" Sticks asked. They finally peeked down the formed dirt hallway together.

The emaciated body of an unidentifiable anthro crawled down the narrow tunnel. It looked at them with a single, colourless, sunken left eye.

"Zombies!" Sticks shouted, "Bury it, bury it, bury it, bury it, bury it!" ,and continued to shout.

With a series of terrified yells, Knuckles refilled the whole hole within seconds. He grabbed the earth piled about as fast as he could, then flung it between his legs and behind himself. Afterward, without thought, he grabbed Sticks, who dropped her lantern, and busted their way to the surface. He punched through ceiling after ceiling until he saw daylight. He continued on and ran towards civilization with Sticks on his shoulder.

Over at the waterlogged temple, things were quieter. Sonic and the others had finished their duties. "Sorry, dears, the library I found is a total write off," Rouge said with a shrug as she landed next to them on the suspended platform in the middle of the twisted ramps.

"I found a ton more film." Hugh said as he kicked a plastic tote with a sandaled foot. The bin was filled to the brim with various colours of film containers.

"The generator I located looks like it was on self destruct." Tails held up a broken container of former chaos plasma. "Each one was freshly busted with an automatic mechanism and the ensuing flood washed it all away. I guess they really didn't want this tech to get in the wrong hands.

"Seems like it; but they forgot this," Sonic said and held up a small syringe of blue plasma. It had no needle on the end, rather a hard black cap in it's place. His communicator went off and he answered casually. "What's the word?"

' _Zombies!_ ' Sticks yelled.

Sonic sighed. "We're not doing this again, Sticks. Zombies aren't real."

' _Yes they are! We saw them!_ ' Knuckles backed her up. He sounded out of breath.

Sonic exchanged an exhausted glance with his group. "Did Shadow see these 'zombies'?"

' _YES! One of them took him_! _Shadow's now part of the hoard!_ ' Sticks said with fear.

' _I filled the hole back in, but the one who got Shadow's still on the loose.'_

 _'We need torches, pitchforks and an angry mob! ASAP! The zombie_ _apocalypse_ _is nigh!_ ' Crashing sounds could be heard in the background. Presumably from Sticks barricading them inside of somewhere.

"Nothing is nigh!" Sonic said.

"Wait a second," Hugh spoke up, "Where are they?" he said and signed as he glared at the device on Sonic's arm.

' _I ran back to town. We're at Sticks burrow._ '

"I mean the temple. Which one? Where is it?" Hugh clarified.

Sonic produced a map hologram from his wrist device and pointed to the right spot. "It's this one. It's got some glass bobbles on the entrance."

Hugh took off his gold bracelet. "Dammit!" He went full werehog and crouched down on all fours. "Come on! I can get us all there quickly. We need to kill those two before they escape!"

They were out of the temple in a matter of seconds. The three held onto Hugh's quills with tightly shut eyes as they barreled through the jungle brush at top speed.

"Do you know what they saw?" Sonic asked.

"Yes; my mistakes! Two rogue test subjects I buried in that temple. I don't know why they didn't die, but I'll make sure I finish them this time."

Moments later, "This is it!" Sonic said and spin jumped off Hugh's back.

He skidded to stop in front of the unlit entrance and the other two let go. He began to sniff the air and ground. "They were both out here. And Shadow...I smell blood." He saw where Knuckles had destroyed his way out of the temple.

"Missing something?" A woman's deep, gravely voice came from down the hallway.

Hugh growled and bared his teeth as he faced her.

A female hedgehog walked into the speckled light of the jungle canopy. She was coloured the same as Shadow and Hugh, black with red stripes; though her stripes were shorter and much thinner. Her eye markings were beneath her eyes and connected to her lower quill stripes. The tuft of white fur above her modest bust was much smaller and curled upward at the ends. She carried Shadow, upsidedown, with her four foot long tail wrapped around his ankles. He looked semi conscious. She signed to Hugh, "Long time no see."

"Eat shit. Where's Rolph?" Hugh snapped.

She was shocked and pleasantly surprised. "Oh, the bitch-boy actually wants to speak now; and me without a biscuit to reward you with. Good boy." She mockingly made a motion that would have condescending pat him on the head, had they been closer. "My dear brother's out hunting down lunch. You can have this back; I got what I needed from it." She tossed Shadow at Sonic and knocked him over. Rouge and Tails assisted them and noticed Shadow had a small stain of blood on his left glove coupled with, what looked like, a bite mark. "You did a terrible job of killing us. Want to try again?" She stepped closer and down off the single stoop the temple had. Her tail whipped back and forth aggressively and made the air swish.

"I didn't really want to kill you; I wanted you to suffer for what you did to our brothers and sisters. Not to mention Cyril died because of your actions." Hugh's quills spiked up and his claws dug into the bricks.

"Suffer?! For forty years, we suffered down there. Freezing cold. Starving. We were awake the whole time, you know. Aren't you satisfied by now," she said with a shrug.

"Nope. Not even close," he said and approached her. His claws were sharp enough to leave scratches in the brickwork as he walked.

Suddenly, another hedgehog dropped down from the trees above and landed on Hugh's back. He had the leg of an unfortunate 'pork animal' in his hand. With an intensely raspy voice he shouted, "Hey fucker, giddy'up!"

Hugh swiped at the newcomer but missed.

The new guy, Rolph, dodged effortlessly. "Still no fun." He took a bite of the raw meat he'd stolen from a hog that now laid on the jungle floor, barely alive, a short distance away. "Still got that temper; and here I thought you'd be glad to see us-" he said and signed Hugh's given name with his free hand. Rolph nonchalantly walked to his sister and gave her the leg of meat. He too had black fur and red stripes. Like Shadow, his arm stripes began at his wrists but continued over the backs of his shoulders and nearly touched above his spine. The markings around his eyes connected to his second set of quill stripes. It appeared that Rolph held his right eye shut at all times. "Anne, why'd you give Ultimate back? We could have bartered."

She rolled her eyes and spoke while she chewed. "He's really strong; I wouldn't be able to keep him permanently knocked out. Venom and poisons take time and resources to make." She pet the end of her tail and flattened the fur near its hooked end. "We really should deal with-" she signed Hugh's former name, "-before he decides to do something stupid."

Rolph groaned. "Come on, sis, I don't want to fight right now. Can't we take him down later? I want to go for a run," he yawned and stretched his stiff body from side to side at the hips.

Sonic spoke up, "You aren't going anywhere. I don't know what disputes you had with Hugh in the past, but I can't look past what you did to Shadow," he said and referenced the incapacitated Ultimate Lifeform who leaned on Tails.

The two laughed deviously. "Shadow? They actually named him Shadow? That's lame," Anne said with a single raised eyebrow. She took one last bite of pig haunch and tossed the rest away.

"Ha, you plan on fighting us? That's rich. What are you gonna do, little man? Gonna hit me really hard? Make me fall down? Bring it," Rolph rolled his eye but was quick to question, "Hold the phone...how did you know Dr. Hubert? You look way too young to have worked with him."

"This 'Hugh'," he said and pointed to the werehog.

Rolph's raspy laugh rattled louder. "You _really_ liked that doctor, didn't ya? Shame he offed himself like that," he said and made a hand motion and sound effect to mimic a spike through his head.

"You're both cunts," Hugh snapped and edged closer.

"Rude. Let's get this over with. I've got a little venom built up," Anne said. Her tail tip opened slightly and produced a two inch, serrated shank alongside a small, curved, needle-like stinger. The needle tip expressed a bead of clear fluid that tainted the sharp blade, then recoiled into it's sheath. She swung her tail above her head and held it there like a scorpion.

Sonic and Hugh braced themselves to attack.

Before Anne or Rolph could make a move, both their inhibitor rings began to electrify them. The pain brought them to their knees and eventually flat to the ground. "You don't know how glad I am that worked," Rouge said as she stepped forward. A gold locket with a green jewel was pinched between her tightly latched fingers. "You see, I'm not one for violence, darlings. Let's talk this one out," she said sweetly and loosened the tension of her finger grip. A small click was heard when the button within the locket released. "The Colonel gave this to me as a safety net. In case Shadow were to ever lose his temper, let's say, while fighting a rival, I can use this to stop his little murder spree before it happens. They even made it beautiful so I wouldn't lose it or forget it. Look at that lovely green jewel." She polished the gem button on her hip then admired the tiny reflection it had to offer. "Fortunately, his rings can be removed, your's can't." She referenced Shadow's four rings on the floor next to him and Tails.

"Bitch!" Rolph tried to get up but was thwarted once again by pain. They both rived in agony.

She waggled a finger. "Now, now, not so hasty. You know you aren't getting out of this, dear," she said and let the button go again. "Being thoughtless is only going to hurt you and your sister. Let's not be uncouth, shall we?" Rouge placed a fist on her hip. "And don't even think about taking this," she said and swung the gold necklace around her finger. "I have a backup hidden on my person, I gave another spare to one of these guys, plus one of my boys in town. We've got both of you from every angle. It's that marvelous? Now that you know where you stand with us, you can both stand up with us." She playfully said.

"Understood," Rolph and Anne said.

"That's a relief." With a huff, Hugh reverted to his hedgehog form. "As much as I'd love to see them swing...I suppose 'due process' and all that jazz." He folded his arms.

The two looked surprised. "Geez, you really hate us that much? I thought you were just stuck like that," Rolph huffed as he got up.

Anne also rose to her feet. "Remember when-" she signed Hugh's name, "-couldn't 'unwolf' at all?"

Rolph agreed with a solid nod. "Yep. You were one mad bastard. Was it something to do with the tide?" He tapped a thoughtful finger against his chin.

"Some things never change while others stay the same," Hugh said and spat in a random direction, away from the others.

"I think we gotta have a team meeting," Sonic said and rubbed the back of his head.

"Agreed," Tails said. "Lets head back to my workshop."

Hugh picked Shadow up to carry on his back and the band of seven headed back to town.

* * *

:)


	75. Chapter 75: The Lucky Hedgehog - Part 3

O_O

Okay, I need to paint a mental image of these voices.

Anne's voice is like a slightly deeper version of the singer Marianne Faithful's voice in the song 'Why D'ya Do It?'. The song is very **NSFW**...it's got the line 'I love you and your barbed wire pussy'...so, yeah, use discretion.

On the other hand, Rolph's voice is close to the deep voice in the song 'Gimme Dat Ding' from 'The Pipkins'. The Song is very SFW and delightful. XD

* * *

 **-Chapter 75: The Lucky Hedgehog - Part 3-**

* * *

Anne and Rolph walked out front. Hugh, behind them, watched the two carefully. Team Sonic, plus Rouge, took up the rear.

Sonic noticed something as Hugh carried Shadow on his back. Hugh and the other two had an extra marking on their lower back. A small red diamond shape, a few inches above their tails. He counted all the markings on the three new Black Arm hedgehogs. They all had eleven red marks, to Shadow's ten.

"When's he gonna snap out of this?" Hugh asked. He did his best to look at Shadow, who mumbled random incoherent syllables.

"About an hour, maybe," Anne said and huffed. "Normally it wouldn't be so long, but it was all the poison I could hold, given in one dose. I had it stored before you buried us and it _was_ intended for you, but these damn rings got us then too," she said and rubbed the ring that was embedded in her wrist bone with a single titanium rod.

"What kind of poison is strong enough to knock him out for this long?" Sonic thought out loud.

"He's technically not knocked out. I administered a potent hallucinogenic. Since it's only 'pushing buttons' in his brain, it'll take his body longer to recognize it as a threat. It was supposed to give us time to get away." She slowed her pace and allowed Hugh to catch up to her. She waved a hand in front of Shadow's eyes. He didn't process the motion. "See? He's miles away from us right now, as we would have been."

Sonic picked up his pace and walked alongside Hugh and Shadow. He saw that Shadow's pupils took up most of his iris. "Huh..."

"I can make lots of fun drugs with this stinger of mine, free of charge, if you're interested," Anne said and seductively rubbed Sonic's arm with her tail. "See? I can be nice."

"Thanks, but I'll pass," Sonic said and rubbed the sensation of her tail away.

"You're no fun either," she said and walked backwards. She looked to Tails at the back of the line. "What about you, sailor?"

Tails quickly waved a hand and shook his head.

"Keep it in your pants, these guys have us prisoner," Rolph mocked her.

Anne rolled her eyes. "You think I don't know how to barter?"

"Apparently not," he said and hooked his thumb to the still noodly limbed Ultimate Lifeform.

She smacked her brother's cheek with her tail when she reached the front of the line again.

Rolph growled at her.

"Shut up, or I'll stick you with the venom that causes priapism," she snapped.

"You would, too," Rolph said with defeat.

"He could snap out of it at any moment, so you know. Then where would our 'bartering chip' be? I'll tell you were. It would be turning us into a bloody fucking paste!" She huffed and they continued to walk to town.

Surly enough, Shadow did come suddenly to, only a short distance from home.

Back at Tails workshop, they deliberated what to do with the two new Black Arm hedgehogs. Hugh placed a marshmallow shaped piece of foam over Anne's tail barb. "You don't trust me?" she said with a smirk.

"No one should trust you," he said with bite.

Rouge opened her locket's back compartment and revealed a port for a computer connection. She handed it off to the tech whiz.

"I can copy the technology in this locket and give the remotes to a few people in town." He looked at the port. "I'll have to make a custom plug for this. It should only take a couple hours."

Sonic spoke with his back turned as he searched Tails shelves for something. "Awesome. That means you two can live here in peace, if you promise to behave."

"No reproduction," Shadow, who was finally back down to Mobius, demanded.

"What?! Why not?" Rolph demanded back.

Shadow's eye twitched. "You damn well know why not! We don't need an army of _you_!"

"Unfair." Anne crossed one leg over the other. "I wanted to have children, too. At least one."

Shadow rubbed his face with a bloodstained glove. "We're going to have to put these two in stasis."

"Okay, okay! Fine!" Rolph threw his arms in the air then folded them tightly. "I prefer men anyway. No worries about babies that way."

Hugh noted everyone's lack of reaction to Rolph's wording.

"I don't care who or what you peg, so long as a child isn't the result," Shadow said and leaned against the door with his eyes closed.

"Tss," Rolph clicked his tongue with a snide attitude.

"Assuming you find someone willing to have sex with a huge sack of shit," Hugh remarked.

"Fuck you," Rolph flipped him off.

"I'm in heat," Anne said with frustration and held a hand over her stomach, "What do I do? I can't help it. If you take these organs out, they'll just grow back."

"She's telling the truth." Hugh thought back to knowledge he'd been taught years ago.

"What about hormone supplements?" Tails suggested. "If your body thinks it's pregnant, then the heat cycle would stop, wouldn't it?"

Anne looked confused. "What the hell is a 'hormone supplement'?"

Tails explained. "A hormone is a chemical your brain releases to give your body instructions. Things like feeling hungry, when to grow taller or, in your case, when to become pregnant; they're all caused by different hormones. If we make a chemical that mimics the pregnancy hormone, it should work to curb or eliminate your symptoms."

Anne nodded. "I'll try it. I mean, it's not like I have a choice," she said and folded her legs opposite to how she'd previously had them.

"I wonder if Dr. Eggman has a device we can use to make that kind of supplement; I know he's been dabbling in bio-tech lately. I have to head over there anyway, I'll take you two with me to see if he can put you up until you find homes."

Sonic successfully pulled what he was looking for off the shelf. It looked like a small flippable communicator. "That's a great idea. He's got plenty of surveillance to boot. Should be easy to keep an eye on these two."

Tails got ready to go to Dr. Eggman's lair in The Tornado Two with Anne, Rolph and Rouge as passengers. Until an additional remote was made, they had to stick together; Rouge refused to let her jewel go.

He fired up the engine. "If I can, I'll make the other remotes while I'm there."

"Sounds like a plan," Sonic bumped fists with Tails. "I'll go and convince Sticks and Knucks the Zombie apocalypse isn't 'nigh'." He made air quotes with his fingers.

"I suggest you both listen well," Shadow said as he made intense eye contact with Anne, "Since you dosed me with that tail of yours, I've become immune to it's poison."

"You mean 'one' of my poisons," she said with a grin. "There's more where that came from." She wiggled her capped tail tip at him.

He slapped it away. "Even if you manage to get the upper hand on these people, you still have me to contend with." He shocked them with teleportation. On the opposite side of plane, he then locked eyes with Rolph's left eye. "If you thought that temple was cold and unforgiving, consider this: One fuck up, from either of you, and I teleport you both to the moon and leave you there. Do we understand each other?" The two hastily nodded. "You'll do your best not to cross me," Shadow said then vanished without a trace.

Rolph scoffed and put his feet up over the edge of the plane. "Kids are always so cranky. Maybe he needs an afternoon nap." Anne nodded lightly.

"Considering the situation, Shadow's actually in a pretty good mood," Sonic said with a chuckle. "Catch ya later, bro," Sonic waved as they pulled away. He and Hugh watched Tails take off and vanish into the distance.

Hugh tied the brown drawstring on the new tan coloured bag Tails had given him to keep his belongings in. "I'd better get back to the circus. Barker wants to head to the big city soon." He threw his newly gifted knapsack, full of memories, over a shoulder.

"Here," Sonic said and handed him a small communicator he'd pulled from Tails shelf. "You'll stay in contact, right? It's all programmed already."

"Sure can," he happily said. He placed the device it the front pocket of his bag.

"Quick question, what does this mean?" He preformed the motion he'd seen the other Project Shadow members do.

"That's what they called me in the lab. I have no clue what it means. I think it's my number, it's been forever," he said with a shrug. "Doctor-uh, Kelly said it was a lucky number. Though, while we live together, he always called me-" Hugh signed the word, "Darling."

"Aww," Sonic swooned.

They parted ways. Hugh went towards the circus. Sonic went towards the circus that was Sticks 'zombie-proofed' burrow, to talk her out of it.

* * *

XD


	76. Chapter 76: The Lucky Hedgehog - Part 4

Where oh where oh where is Shadow? O_O

Also, remember how I said how I like to make stuff up and mess with the canon...yeah...that. ;D

*fires cannons in favour of fun* :P

Final part. Here we go. The stage is set. ^o^

* * *

 **- Chapter 76: The Lucky Hedgehog - Part 4-**

* * *

 _In an abyss, neither dark or light, coloured or colourless, Shadow floated in the silence peacefully._

 _"Shadow...can you hear me?"_

 _His concentration was broken as he finally heard a familiar voice. "_ _ **Hugh?**_ _ **Where are we? What's happening?**_ _" He felt oddly calm._

 _"We're safe, brother. Don't worry."_

 _Shadow nodded. "_ _ **Tell me...what's going on...are we dead?**_ _"_

 _"We're both fine; I more so than you, for a time. You were drugged by Anne's tail; she's a Black Arm hybrid, one of us."_

 _Shadow chuckled. "_ _ **She's going to be a dead 'one of us' when I get out of this and can feel reality and anger again. How long am I going to be stuck here?**_ _" he calmly asked._

 _"Let me ask." He paused. "...she said, about an hour."_

 _Shadow felt forgiveness. "_ _ **I can let it slide. An hour of this isn't going to be terrible...though...where are we right now?**_ _ **I can't move or see.**_ _ **I can't feel anything. I don't feel like I have a body at the moment.**_ _"_

 _"You're still 'all there'. That's a side effect of the dissociative drug she gave you. I'm carrying you on my back. We're walking toward town now."_

 _" **I see.** __**Why did she attack me?**_ _"_

 _"She didn't intend to attack_ _you_ _, she mistook you for me. Apparently we look very similar. When she noticed who you were, she stole a bit of your blood to heal her starved body. That's all."_

 _Shadow briefly recalled his finger being bitten before reality washed away and he was wherever he was currently. "_ _ **Why was she down there?**_ _"_

 _"I buried her and Rolph down there. In exchange for special protections, they gave the locations of our temples to government spies. Since they no longer know where everyone's at, I suppose it's no harm in letting them live..."_

 _Shadow felt himself smile. "_ _ **Heh...I can feel dishonesty.**_ _"_

 _Hugh chuckled. "Yeah. I'd rather tear them to shreds with my bare teeth...but I digress. Quick thinking on your lady friend's part. She had a device that activated their inhibitor rings."_

 _Shadow felt himself blush. "_ _ **...she's quick. She's a great partner.**_ _"_

 _"She's precious; I like her. Is she who you plan to imprint on?"_

 _"_ _ **Imprint?**_ _"_

 _"Did you not go to class? They taught us all of this."_

 _"_ _ **I was stuck in stasis for fifty years. My memory isn't the greatest.**_ _"_

 _"Right, fair enough. When you imprint, you're basically linking with the other person's mind and body. You feel each others emotions and you connect deeply with them. They don't have to be the same species or even be part of the Black Arm; I imprinted with Dr. Shannon out of nowhere one day."_

 _"_ _ **Interesting.**_ _"_

 _"It'll also help your partner live longer. With Dr. Shannon's diagnosis, he was only supposed to live for, at best, ten years. We were together for fourty-five."_

 _Shadow felt relief and gave his best impression. "_ _ **That sounds lovely, dear.**_ _"_

 _He laughed. "It is."_

 _"_ _ **How do I...?**_ _"_

 _"It'll happen on it's own, eventually. It's like a chemical reaction, not an intentional action. Then you'll get your 'flourish'."_

 _"_ _ **Which is?**_ _"_

 _"Your extra marking. Plus your current markings will extend. I'm actually a little curious to see what you'll look like. Usually the stronger the subject, the more intense the flourish."_

 _Shadow felt hopeful. "_ _ **That's useful to know. Thank you, brother.**_ _"_

 _"Anytime," he happily said._

 _"_ _ **I do have one more question.**_ _"_

 _"What's that?"_

 _"_ _ **Where exactly are we? As in, this space, right here.**_ _"_

 _"It's, well...it's a part of the hivemind; a little pocket dimension with just you and I in it. It's cut off from the rest. I can only see what you want to show me, or hear what you want to say. This is where I was when you couldn't find me the other night. Since the Black Arm don't know how to handle most mind altering substances from across the millions of planets they interact with, whenever one of us gets into anything, the hivemind sticks your_ _consciousness_ _in this sort of space until you sober up."_

 _Shadow couldn't hear anyone else but Hugh. "_ _ **If couldn't reach you the other night because of this, why are we able to speak now?**_ _"_

 _"Physical contact. I would also know how to look for you on my own in here. I've been to this place plenty of times before. It nice and quiet."_

 _"_ _ **Agreed...since we have an hour, I'll tell you about Maria while we're here.**_ _"_

 _"Maria?"_

 _Shadow felt free to be open. It was the only time in his life he was sure only one other person could hear him, terrestrial or otherwise. "_ _ **She was the granddaughter of Gerald Robotnik, the scientist who began Project Shadow. She was the only friend I had on the space station. I know Gerald cared for me, I appreciated him, but Maria was the first person I actually connected with and felt friendship. When G.U.N., a rogue militia group, busted in to halt the project, they gunned her down. Watching her fall to the ground was the last thing I saw before I was knocked out and stuck in stasis. When I was woken up, it was the only memory I had retained. I didn't even know my name.**_ _"_

 _"That's harsh, brother. I'm sorry you had to see that. I wonder if you mean Maria Hubert-Robotnik? Cyril's wife."_

Shadow inhaled a deep breath and looked around. He saw that everyone stood around him with a worried expression; except for Sonic and Hugh, who helped him to his feet. "Welcome back, brother."

"Was Jupiter windy?" Sonic asked with his usual, wide, shit-eating grin.

"...it was a breath of fresh air." Shadow shakily stood up off the dusty path they walked together. It looked like they were close to town. He heard the sounds of people hustling and bustling. The faint scent of Meh Burger's fryer hung in the air.

After a brief meeting with Team Sonic, Shadow teleported to Dr. Eggman's lair. He waited for the two tailed fox to show up with Rouge and the two-faced twins. He sat in the large chair and put his feet up on the console. He hit something and a bit of text caught his eye. Shadow leaned in for a closer look.

In town Sonic waited for his and Amy's coffee and hot chocolate at Bonnie's local cafe and beauty salon. He breathed a sigh of relief because he successfully quelled the impeding doom Sticks and Knuckles felt towards the end of the world. Unable to help them 'unbarricade' from the outside he headed home with a brief stop along the way to pick up drinks.

He leaned on the counter and noticed the barista's thousand yard stare. "Bonnie, you doing alright?" Sonic noticed she looked tired too.

The tall rabbit lady gave him a warm smile, "You know, same old drama," she said and handed him his beverages. "Take care, sweetie."

"You too, Bonnie," he said and left with teeming hot cups. With haste, he made it home in seconds. He greeted Amy as he entered. "Hey Ames, brought you a hot drink, and-holy crap!" He found his and Amy's house was full of all the documents and books Shadow teleported from the temple. "Heh, find anything interesting?" he asked over a pile as he passed her the cooled drink.

Amy poked her head up from behind a stack of papers. "Lots of stuff. Like Hugh's official file. Oh, thank you," she said and took her 'warm chocolate'. "Let me find it here...he's number seven hundred and seventy-seven."

Sonic laughed at the 'lucky' number Hugh had ended up with. "Does that mean there's at least that many clones? Well, they're not really 'clones', but you get what I mean." Sonic maneuvered around the papers and sat next to Amy on the couch.

"Not sure, I haven't gotten through it all."

Sonic sat still and slowly turned his head to face her. "...did you use Chaos Control to freeze time so you could read all this?"

"..." Amy did her best to stifle a yawn but couldn't. "Maybe," she said with a chuckle and attempted to hand him the file she searched for.

"Amy," he said with a bit of frustration.

She retracted the bundle of information and held it with a bent arm next to her head. "I napped all day while you were out. Reading isn't physically taxing, it just takes a long time to do. I got hooked." She unretracted the papers.

"...alright then." He took what she handed him. "How long was time frozen for?"

"Over a day," she said and poked her fingers together.

He laughed with a slight eye roll. "And you slept well during the freeze?"

She nodded and said with a thumbs up, "Like a log."

"I suppose the sooner we know everything, the better." He opened the file she'd given to him and began to read. It had all about Hugh's allergies and any reactions he'd had to treatment's he'd received.

"Then there's this," she said and handed him a different file.

Sonic read that one too. His eyes went wide. "...and this is from the lab?"

She nodded.

"...and this is _not_ more of your fetish porn stash?"

"It's not 'fetish', it's 'kinky', and it's not a stash, it's a collection, and I doubt I could go that dark, my love," she said with a head shake as she pointed at the information in her partner's hands. "Interesting to know that the Black Arm can impregnate any female, Anthro, Human or animal alike."

"...wow."

"That was my response."

"I suppose that's what he meant by 'go in there with an _open mind_ '." Sonic looked over Hugh's file. Nothing on it said if he had a name or not. "Oh yeah, another thing. Anne and Rolph called Hugh this," he said and made the same motion as them. He held his palm facing his chin. His middle finger bent at the second knuckle to form a right angle. He held the hand shape and turned his palm toward Amy.

"Not sure," she said with a shrug.

"He said he was only called by a number. So...how does this make three sevens," he asked and preformed the motion again.

Amy suggested, "Maybe the library has a sign language dictionary?"

"Good idea. Be right back," he said and ran out the door. He came back a minute later with a large book. "There was a line up at the library." He opened the sign language dictionary. "Wait a second...how do I even try to look this up? I'd either have to go through _each_ page or just have incredible..." Something came to him. "Wait, wait...hang on." He flipped to the 'L' section. "...yep, there it is," he said with a smile. "Pure luck," Sonic said as he called Hugh on his new device.

It took him a moment to answer. ' _Hey, I figured out how to make this thing work_ ,' Hugh said.

"Nice. I figured out what your old name was."

' _Oh really? What number is it?_ '

"It's not a number. Because your number was seven-hundred and seventy-seven, they called you 'Lucky'."

Hugh sighed wistfully. ' _That was sweet of them. Thank you for telling me, but I think I'm going to stick with 'Hugh'. Cyril Hubert is the reason I've lived a good life alongside the man I loved for so long. Calling myself 'Lucky' twice, seems a bit redundant._ '

"That's touching," Amy said and held her heart.

Sonic smiled. "Makes sense."

"Have a safe trip, Hugh," Amy said.

"Call us when you get to the city. Catch ya later," Sonic said.

' _Thank you, I will. Later,_ ' he said and ended the call.

Sonic lowered his communicator. "Something else I noticed about all these Black Arm folks, is that they all have the same number of red markings, except for Shadow."

"I noticed that too. Are Anne and Rolph the same height as Hugh?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Wait, I thought you said they were the same height and weight."

She nodded. "When they were born and into their 'teenage' years."

"Right...so...is Shadow still a juvinile? Like, not an adult form, like the others. Rolph made a wise crack about him being a child."

Amy looked to agree. "Hugh and I both noticed it when he was here the other day. Shadow's only the same height as the others because of his shoes. And interestingly enough, he's had them heightened recently. I assume to make room for the water jets."

"Neat. I wonder if Shadow's aware of this."

"I'm sure Shadow's aware he's short, Sonic." She giggled. "I'm kidding, but, due to his memory loss, he may know next to nothing about his own species." She picked up another file from an untouched pile. "I've still got more papers to go through-"

"-tomorrow?" Sonic cut her off and placed a hand on the paper she held.

Amy nodded and yawned once again. "Tomorrow." She laid the work to rest.

"Chili?" Sonic asked.

Amy nodded. "Chili."

The expecting hedgehog couple spent the day at home, relaxed and ate homemade chili dogs.

* * *

:D


	77. Chapter 77: Drama Within

Time to check in on the extras. ;P

* * *

 **-Chapter 77: Drama Within** -

* * *

While things settled down with Team Sonic and Shadow's 'extended family _'_ , business carried on as usual for the towns folk.

BG's mother, Bonnie, answered a scant knock at her door. On the other side was a frail woman who hunched to her left on a cane. She was a light aqua coloured nutria, with a large, red beehive hairdo. She wore a short sleeved, white sundress with gray leggings and black thong sandals, courtesy of Tonic Concentration. With a reluctant, "Uuh, come on in, Gail," she let her neighbour in. "What's the occasion? Someone die?"

Gail grinned as she passed a host who begrudgingly let her by. "No occasion."

"Then why are you here?" Bonnie asked as she watched as the woman made her way to the kitchen.

"What? I can't come by and see an old friend?" The woman peeked around the corner as she disappeared in the direction of the smell of coffee.

Bonnie took a solid breath in and out. "You have no friends here," she said dryly. "I know you took care of my girl the other night, so you get a pass for now. What the hell do you want?"

She chuckled and said, "Don't be like that." She continued to make herself at home and poured a cup of black coffee.

Bonnie tightly folded her arms. "I'll be like 'this' until you either explain yourself or leave."

Gail stirred three sugar cubes into her coffee, one at a time. "Such anger. Not a good example for your girls, I bet. Wait, one of them isn't yours. I almost forgot, sorry about that."

"..." Bonnie felt impending doom.

"They're sisters, aren't they?" Gail took the spoon she used out of her cup and laid it gently in the sink. "Or are they cousins? I want to get my story straight, is all," she laughed.

"..."

Gail continued. "As they say, loose lips sink ships," she said and ended with a sip of coffee. "It just so happens that I heard a few interesting tidbits of information from some _very_ loosened lips the other night." She sipped the hot coffee again. "Ooh, that's delightful, hazelnut, isn't it?"

"Focus!"

Gail paused, offended, and locked eyes with Bonnie. "As I was saying...BG, as she calls herself, mentioned that Cream's mother's name is Vanilla. I find it an odd coincidence that you have a younger sister with the same name. What were the chances?"

"...Gail, don't do this," Bonnie said and allowed her arms to fall at her sides.

"I knew it!" she said and gave the counter top a slap. "I'm surprised you took Loki back after that sort of infidelity. I mean, at least he had good taste in women when he nailed your sister," Gail said with a hearty laugh that ended in a hoarse cough. She hit her chest with a fist and dislodged whatever made her cough.

Bonnie took the mug from her semi-invited guest. "Do you think I care about that anymore? I don't. I love my husband and both my daughters. You can get out now."

"Fine, fine..." Gail hobbled back towards the door. "If you don't mind me gossiping, I'll get right to it." She made it out the door. Before it was slammed behind her, she stuck her cane in the way. " _You_ may not care who knows, but can you say the same for your oldest?"

Bonnie grit her teeth. "Leave. Now."

Gail's cane got pushed from the door. "She's rather keen on her social media presence...wouldn't want that to change, would we? You know how cruel children can be." She said and onomatopoeiaed a banjo, "Ba-da-dun-da-dun-da-dunnn...," as if she were one.

Bonnie bit back frustrated, angry, tears as she listened through the crack in the opened door.

"Maybe I'll tell Belinda first."

Bonnie gasped and opened the door again. "Okay! What do you want?" she asked frantically.

Gail held out a palm sized, folded paper.

"What's this?" She took it to read.

"I need that prescription by days end. If you could be so kind as to have one of the sister-cousins drop it off to my boy at work, that'd be much appreciated. I'm in physio for the rest of the day and David's working overtime, from now through supper; neither of us can get it filled before the store closes."

Bonnie was shocked as she gripped the paper tightly. "...you could have just asked," she said and waved the slightly crumpled prescription in front of her. "I have enough to worry about without people like you starting drama. Now get lost!" She slammed the door on the frail woman's face.

Gail laughed as she began her long walk to the doctor's office, "What a wind bag."

Later that day, BG walked into Meh Burger with a brown paper bag and loudly said, "Hey, Dave, I got your mom's ass-hair-removal cream."

The patrons within earshot laughed.

Dave didn't react but took the bag in hand from beyond the counter. "Thanks a bunch. It's super tough for her to get around now-a-days."

BG was shocked at his lack of response and blushed. "Y-yeah, I get ya."

"Also," Dave said and squeaked his new footwear on the floor. "The shoes you dropped off are a really good fit. Thanks again," he said with a smile.

BG blushed more. "No problem." She watched him go through the parcel from the pharmacy. His bangs fell into his eyes as he looked down. She blushed harder as she watched him brush them away. ' _Just like last time,_ ' she thought as she recalled the same thing when he lent her the old cartoon series box set, the night after she had the blackout. ' _Why am I attracted to you?!_ ' BG attempted conversation. "I-I got through the first disk of that series you loaned to me. I should have it back to you i-in a couple days."

He pulled the boxed medication out of the bag and examined it. "No rush. I haven't watched it in years, it was only collecting dust...huh, this isn't my mom's ass-hair-removal cream, it's her heart medication."

"Oh," BG sounded concerned. "Did they give me the wrong thing? My mom sent me for it; and Gail only gave her the one prescription," she said with a fist on her hip.

"It must be right then." He replaced it in the bag, folded it and laid it beneath the counter.

BG hesitated. "So...like...are you smart?"

Dave nodded.

"Not only smart with machines, I mean, are you people-smart?"

Dave nodded a bit slower, unsure of what he was being led to.

"Okay...so...I...have a friend...and...they...are..."

He waited patiently for her to finish.

"Fuck it!" BG's face and ears were overcome with blush. "Come over to my house after work! I want to talk to you." She said and stomped away before he could answer.

He nodded slowly again. "Alright."

A single moment later, she walked back with her head hung low and a hand over riving gut pain. "R-regret sized fries, f-for here." She held up a bill. "Keep the change." BG saw Staci out of the corner of her eye and waved at her.

Staci took a seat at the store front to wait.

Dave rang BG through and brought her the fries. "I'm off at nine."

"C-cool, catch you then," she said and took her tray to the seat with Staci. They dug in.

The girls saw Rouge land right outside the restaurant. She looked rather down as she walked into Meh Burger by herself. BG pretended to ignore her and kept to her fries, but watched and listened to the scene unfold.

Rouge glanced around the restaurant briefly. She sighed and touched a few buttons on her handheld communicator.

Suddenly, Shadow appeared next to her via teleportation. He scrutinously checked the furniture above and below for stains or mess. With a new pair of clean, white gloves, he rubbed his thumb and middle fingers together and found no grime. "...acceptable."

She sighed again. "Marvelous, dear," she said with a hint of sadness. "I think I only want ice cream for now. It should ease the pain."

Shadow rolled his eyes. "He said you could have it back in an hour or two."

Rouge sighed yet again as she approached the counter with her partner. "What if he scuffs it? Young men don't usually understand the importance of beautiful jewelry the way a woman like myself does." She laid her depressed head on the clean counter. "David, darling, save me; with ice-cream." She stood up again, pointed a finger at his nose and booped it gently. "I want the largest ice-cream you've got and it needs to be _covered_ in hot fudge and peanuts. Don't let me down."

Dave blushed and saluted her. "Yes, Ma'am."

Shadow continued with what they were talking about. "I don't think that's a concern. Have you seen how meticulous he is with his machinery?"

Rouge shook her head and shrugged. "Machines and jewelry both require a lot of care, but does the fox wear kid gloves?"

Shadow gave her side eyes.

"What? I can be clever too, you know," she said and gave him a warm smile.

He turned away somewhat and hid a half smile, "...I'm writing you up."

"Why!" she pretended to sound offended.

"For using the company credit card to buy this."

Rouge huffed and cocked her head away. "You assume I'm not using my own money."

Dave interrupted them as he hoisted a bucket of ice cream to the counter top. "One Ice-Cream-Mountain, with extra fudge and nuts." The 'literal' bucket of ice cream was piled high. Three peaks of vanilla with various toppings poked over the edge of the official 'Ice-Cream-Mountain' bucket. "What's on this?" she asked.

"Fudge, caramel chips, some sort of red berry goop, more fudge, whipcream, sprinkles, shaved chocolate and coconut, more fudge, peanuts..." Dave lit a sparkler and placed it betwixt the three maraschino cherry peaks. "And metal."

Shadow and Rouge looked at the spectacle with dumbfounded gazes. "You can't possibly eat all that," he said blankly.

"...with a little help, maybe." She tapped her own bottom for a wallet that didn't exist. "Spot me?" she asked sheepishly.

Shadow rolled his eyes hard. "I knew it." He flipped nearly fifty dollars for the disgusting pile of sugar sludge.

Rouge took the handle of the bucket and could barely budge the dessert.

Shadow stepped in, grabbed the sparkler and stuck it into some whip cream. It sizzled out. "You owe me," he said and lifted the ice cream. Before he left, he paused briefly and looked over to Dave. "The place looks good; keep it up."

He saluted again, "Yes, Major Shadow, Sir." They turned and left. Dave sighed wistfully as Rouge left with Shadow.

BG noted how much Dave ogled Rouge. Jealousy overtook her. "Who the hell is the bat chick?"

"Rouge, Shadow's partner."

BG nodded and accepted the information. "And the sexy piece she was with is Shadow, right?" she said with her usual nonchalantness.

Staci nearly inhaled a fry. "Yes! Chicky! That's Shadow!"

"I want to meet him."

"No you don't!"

"Why? Do you know who Shadow really is, like, deep down?"

"Yes! He's a terror!" She scream whispered to BG while they were still in public. "I mean, he's worked with the Lightening Bolt Society before, but let's just say: He's not the friendliest at the best of times."

Something clicked within her brain. "Neither am I...and he's hot." BG decided her new distraction would help avoid any potential feelings of attraction she had for any nearby nerds and any additional feelings of seething jealousy she now felt towards any busty bats.

Staci was in shock and could only sit there with a head that slowly shook. "He's, like, thirty-something. What happened to the whole 'I don't date old men' mentality?"

She shrugged and bullshitted. "Don't know, don't care. I knew I was still attracted to hot guys; such a relief." She fake sighed and wiped a bit of imaginary sweat off her brow. "Hold the phone. Look," she said and pointed.

In the distance, Hugh and Barker stopped to talk to the two with the ice cream. Hugh leaned out the passenger side window of the main convoy truck and said his goodbyes.

"I'm confused..." Staci scratched her head. "Which one of them is Shadow?"

BG snapped a finger. "Maybe 'Shadow' is a code name. There could be a ton of people who look just like him, that the government created to be super soldiers." Her mind mimicked the plot of the TV series she restarted. "I could use a man with good genetics."

Staci snapped her fingers several times in front of her friend's face. "Come back to me."

BG bent her fingers back and cracked her knuckles. "I don't think those two have a 'non-professional relationship'. Did you see how annoyed he was with her? And Dave called him 'Major' and saluted them both. Obviously they work together and Dave knows them through the Lightening Dip'shits."

"Seriously? The titty-bat is a soldier? She kind of seems like a fluffball."

"I know, right? I half expected her to drop off a resume at my mom's salon."

"How do you know all that?" Staci watched as BG wiggled her satellites. "Right, super sensitive."

Her ears wiggled and prepped upward. "Sensitive to the point that I can tell you that Dave put the caramel chips in the bottom of that ice cream; they're going to be a coagulated mess by the time anyone makes it through that heap of slop." Still in her seat, BG tilted her ears outward at her sides and pointed them at the circus caravan discreetly.

Staci waited patiently.

She spoke so only Staci could hear. "...okay...that IS Shadow...and the other guy's named Hugh...they're related...nothing...travelling circus gig...nothing...chatter and nothing useful." She let her ears rest at her sides again as the caravan pulled away.

"Damn." She picked up one of the few remaining fries and popped it in her mouth.

"You know what we do when we need info?" BG gave her a devious smirk.

Staci's face lit up and they both said, "Go talk to Mama B!"

BG nodded, "Mama B knows all." She dumped their tray and headed over to the leader of the Lightening Bolt Society's personal home.

The two found Belinda in a folding chair on her back porch with a canned drink.

"Got a minute, Mama B?" BG asked sweetly as she poked her head around the side of the home.

Belinda looked over slowly, "I've got several. What can I do for you girls?"

Staci stood next to a support beam while BG took up the second free lawn chair at her side. "I have some questions about Shadow."

"Off limits."

The two looked shocked. "W-what?" BG stammered.

"You're interested in pursuing him, I take it. I can see it in your face."

Staci and BG blushed and looked sheepish.

"There goes that idea," Staci said.

"Of all the people in the village, why him?" Belinda looked to be at a loss for words.

BG gathered her thoughts with a cleansing breath. "I think I have a crush on Dave. Dave doesn't seem interested in me. I noticed Dave noticing Rouge. If Dave notices me giving Shadow attention, it should trigger a similar jealousy response."

Belinda processed what she'd heard. "That's crazy."

"Crazy enough to work," BG said with zest.

"No, just the first part: Crazy. And stupid." Belinda finished her beverage. "Listen, don't push your luck with Shadow. Do I need to remind you what happened the last three times the 'Black Death' showed up?"

BG shrugged. "Probably. I only remember the one time. It was a while ago. I don't recall much."

Staci raised a finger. "The first time was before you moved here and the last time you were out of town."

Belinda sighed. "I'll give you both a recap. The first time he showed up, he and Sonic fought and nearly flattened the whole village. The second time, they fought and destroyed the village again. When that wasn't good enough, Shadow stole a dimensional shifting device and tried to destroy reality as well as our homes. The third time he showed up, about six years by now, he and Sonic fought _again_ and destroyed the village _again_. Afterwards, Sonic gave him a verbal lashing so cutting that Shadow, apparently, joined the military. On this, his fourth visit, he intended to settle up with Sonic, but put it off because of Amy's pregnancy. Now he's biding his time and is probably waiting to fight with Sonic again, all the while building up rage at the fact the military is simultaneously forcing him to team up with Team Sonic. Hopefully this time, when they eventually duke it out, one of them dies before they destroy the town again and we can all stop worrying about this nonsense and move on with our damn lives." She finished her rant.

"Yikes," Staci said.

"Oookay, I'll keep my distance..." BG nodded with a wide angled stare.

"You best." Belinda reached into the cooler at her side and pulled out a can of pop for each of the girls. "There's a heat wave coming, stay hydrated." She handed them off and took one out another for herself. After the two girls walked away, Belinda spiked her drink with liquid from the flask she kept in her dress pocket. "Got to stay cool," she said after a lengthy swig.

Back at the Rabbit residence, Cream got ready to head out for the afternoon. Tails invited her over to witness the launch of his new communication satellite. She packed Cheese safely into her bag. "I know you can't say anything, but I'm going to introduce you to my mom today. She's going to be so surprised to see you." The egg wiggled slightly. "Maybe you can talk, sort of. Actions speak louder than words." With a spring in her step she power walked to Tails workshop.

Over at Dr. Eggman's lair, Snively monitored the progress his uncle had made. He quickly grew tired of the foul mouthed, ill tempered, siblings Shadow dumped on his doorstep. They were left to their own devices while he checked on the doctor's procedure.

In the viewing area, a large glass panel stood between him and the doctor in the sterile room below. A monitor hooked up to Eggman produced information next to him. Snively spoke aloud as he silently read, "Good, good, excellent, perfect," he said and graded his happiness in seeing each bit of the surgery's success marked down in numbers only he understood. "You may have underestimated your abilities with biological technology, dear uncle. Your blood loss is minimal, far lower than anticipated; and your vitals haven't dropped below seventy-seven the entire time. Impressive..." Snively looked over as another printer hummed and spat out a message. He ripped it from the machine and nodded as he read each line. "Above and beyond." He looked at the doctor under the knife.

Dozens of mechanical arms protruded from the sides of the circular room and hovered above him on the operating table. Each white limb moved in harmony with the others. Like a centipede's legs, each one worked together and never bumped into another.

"Orbot," Snively addressed the red robot stationed near the exit. "Could you report this to Duchad. It should put the old bean's mind to rest."

"Y-yes, sir," he said and took the document in hand and turned to exit.

"Where's the square one of you?" Snively asked before Orbot left the viewing room.

Orbot took a moment to process what he meant. "You mean Cubot? He's, well, decorating the interior with renaissance style art."

Snively looked shocked. "That sounds charming. I'm surprised you robots are so capable."

"You'll be surprised alright." Orbot sighed.

"I can't wait to see his project"

"Trust me, you can," he said with dread.

In a brightly lit room at the opposite end of the lair, Cubot painted meticulously. "You can try to erase my memories all you want, but the love for my beautiful Rouge is stronger than one's and zero's. I'll never forget the glorious majesty I witnessed before me." He hovered backwards to get a better look at his creation that covered the back wall. A stark outline of a famous beauty standing on a shell paid homage to Rouge.

* * *

XD


	78. Chapter 78: Figuring Out

As of chapter 77 I have 157770 words written. I've been giving a lot of attention to the number seven lately, so maybe this is a sign to stick with it. Woo, spooky XD

* * *

 **-Chapter 78: Figuring Out-**

* * *

With Knuckles and Jules home nearly complete, Xaun took a day and finally came to fix Sonic and Amy's window. Before he got started they discussed the information he and Sticks had gathered.

Xaun went through his bag for a book he found in Gogoba village about 'werehogs'. "We got this 'werehog curse' figured out. Rather, half of it, at least," Xaun said as he found the correct book. "Turns out you have two types of lycanthropy, which is the fancy word they used for the 'wolf-curse'. This is the first type you have." The page he showed Sonic had a picture of a stocky, bipedal werehog. "That illustration was from a local, nearly eighty years ago. The form showed up out of nowhere after a volcanic eruption. It's native to this island specifically and doesn't show up in any other texts we could find; and I'm talkin' world wide."

Sticks held up a dozen bundles of dried fibers and herbs. "You lucked out, the garlic one isn't a trigger or an inhibitor, so you don't gotta wear it or avoid it."

Sonic sighed. "That's a relief."

"Sorry to say, but the licorice one doesn't do anything either," she said as she put the semi-useless plants away.

He straightened his bandanna. "I'm keeping the fibers in; I'm starting to like it."

Sticks continued. "We couldn't find much of the one plant that inhibits the transformation, but the ones that trigger it are right here." She held up the three bundles with white papers folded in half; within them, two dried roots, a red and a brown, and one of fibers, also brown. "We showed Amy all we found and she figured what sciency notes to go off of."

Amy pushed an inch high stack of files and loose papers forward. "Nighttime, a full moon or those few plants are the triggers for this form. You're so sensitive to the red root, someone could be cooking with it and you'd transform from smelling it. Luckily, it's medicinal and not a cooking spice, so the chances of that happening are slim to none. The other plants need to be eaten."

Sonic glimpsed the pages and books Amy, Sticks and Xaun had marked. "This is good to know, but what does it mean that I have two of these? Is there a difference besides triggers?"

Amy spoke up. "With the information I accumulated from the lab, the scientists made this strain so that you have one form during the waning moon and the other during the waxing moon; 'why?', that I don't know. The two forms _will_ look different and have different abilities, possibly."

Sonic touched the bicep of his scarred arm. "Hugh said he hadn't seen anyone with the stretchy arm thing."

Amy nodded. "That was the biggest clue in linking your type to this one in the files." She tapped the stack of notes. "Since our knowledge is limited, I won't be able to figure out what the other one is until we see what you look like during a waxing moon."

"That's nearly a month away," he said with a hint of annoyance.

"Your form _is_ shifting a bit," Amy continued, "When you had your feet up on the table the other night, I noticed your legs looked less digit-grade than the first time you transformed. Your tail's a bit shorter too. There's only a handful of types with the digit-grade legs, so that's a start." She held up sketched she'd done of Sonic on night one.

His expression brightened up. "You finished it! That looks really cool, Ames," he remarked at Amy's handiwork of his 'angry snarl' pose. He bristled his quills and made sure to show as many teeth as possible for the picture.

She blushed and said, "Aww, thank you." Amy sighed sweetly and closed up her sketchbook to hug.

Sonic thought about his transformation as he admired his new pair of shoes Amy bought him only days ago. His transformation time grew close, he removed the footwear and tossed them by the front door. "I hadn't noticed a big shift. I'll have to pay closer attention tonight." He touched his bearded chin. "Which one is making my face do this?"

Amy smiled and gave a little giggle, "That's a result of having two forms at the same time. Apparently they couldn't find a way to switch that off for any of the werehog combinations, so they focused on curbing the transformation for it's health benefits instead. Again, I'm not too sure what their motives were, because that was the information they manage to take with them."

He shrugged, "I guess that means Hugh only has one type of lycanthropy?"

"I think so," Xaun said as he showed off a second book. This one showed a larger mostly wolf creature who towered above an 'example sized', blank anthro. "Didn't Hugh also say he can also transform when he's angry? He's super 'wolfy' when he transforms too. Maybe your second type is like his. We'll have to wait and see."

After a short discussion about the similarities between Sonic's early stage transformation and Hugh's regular transformation, Xaun got to work on their living room window. Sonic fried meat and Amy chopped vegetables for their chili.

Minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

Sticks answered and let in Shadow and Rouge. Rouge ate ice-cream from the bucket that Shadow oh-so-generously held for her. "We have a problem," he said with worry.

"Diabetes?" Sonic assumed.

Shadow was put off. "Grr, no, dumbass. The chaos tech we retrieved from the temples are being sent overseas."

The room was shocked.

"I found a notice on Eggman's monitor from Duchad, the dictator. It instructed him to send reinforcements via his nephew's fleet."

"I knew it!" Sonic was furious.

"He's not sent all of it," Amy said with a cocky smile.

The rest of the room and Shadow turned their attention to Amy. Rouge repositioned to continue her ice-cream binge. "Explain," he requested.

Amy rolled her eyes. "I have people on the inside who don't like Eggman playing two sides of the coin, all the while talking out of both sides of his mouth."

Shadow kept quiet and absorbed what Amy did.

She went to the closet. "This is why I connect with people. I learn things," she said as she reached onto the top shelf and produced a familiar case. She opened it; within, a dozen chaos chamber batteries.

Shadow grit his teeth as he was handed the case. "How did you get those?" The technology was wedged into new foam and refinished, lead-line case.

She smirked. "My reach is pretty far, Major Shadow."

He felt slighted that she spoke his rank with such a tone. He shut the case and laid it on a nearby counter. "Explain, now," he demanded with a glare.

"Lose the attitude," Amy snapped and gave him a glare of her own. "I've got friends in high places and I doubt they'd want to hear that you're giving the sweet and lovable 'Amy Rose' difficulties." With both hands clasped gingerly behind her back, and her friends right behind her, she elegantly said, "Major Shadow, I'm a productive and respected member of the community, not some 'pink psycho'." She flexed the camera in her left eye's pupil for Shadow and Rouge to notice. It took a picture of them with a tight, quick snap of it's shutter.

Shadow's blood ran cold while Rouge nearly chocked on sugary substances laced with frozen chocolate chips.

"Since you know I'm a valuable asset, I hope you'll continue to be a big help to us and our cause." Amy relaxed her pose. With a hand over her incredibly mobile children she gave them a warm smile. "If you two don't mind heading out shortly, we're making supper. I'd offer for you to stay, but we don't quite have enough to go around."

"Understood," he said distantly.

Rouge swallowed a bite and nodded quietly.

"Considering what you two have told me, I think it's safe for me to say we need to know more." She picked up and put the chaos bobbles away in their safe spot. "It's a blow to our allies to know Eggman can't be fully trusted. For now, keep quiet and learn what you can. I'm still figuring out what to do with the town counsel's-uh, economy issues. Hopefully they aren't connected to this in any way."

"Understood," he said distantly again.

Everyone else in the room stood in awe of the situation.

"Rouge, I need your ears tomorrow. Meet me here for lunch, noon sharp."

She nodded, "Yes, Ma'ma."

"Shadow, kindly keep an eye on Orbot and Cubot. They're to stay safe. Okay?"

He nodded, "Yes, Ma'ma."

She waved a hand delicately back and forth two and a half times. "We'll put off any more exploration until further notice. That'll be all."

The two nodded, saluted, then teleported away.

Sonic, in shock, walked up to Amy and turned her to face him. "What...was...that," he blankly asked. His heart pounded in his chest for the whole ordeal.

She giggled and kissed his bearded cheek. "I repeat: I have friends in high places. Remember how I said the royal family was coming for a visit?"

"Vaguely..." he said with confusion.

"Who do you think has enough clout to be able to invite them?" she said and poked her chest with a thumb. "Right here."

"That's...awesome," Sonic sounded relieved as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "Guess I gotta get a kilt soon, don't I?"

Amy parted some clothing in the same closet that hid the chaos tech. "Way ahead of you," she said and revealed a hanger that displayed full Celtic garb.

"Nice," Sonic said with a grin. "I'm not gonna question things anymore. You got this figured out."

"Tee-hee," she said coyly with four fingers up to her cover her mouth.

Back at Eggman's lair, Shadow and Rouge sat down to eat the tri-peaked ice-cream monstrosity. Shadow ensured their safety and privacy with a chaos controlled time freeze. "I can't believe it's her," he said.

"She's sly, I'll give her that. Really lives up to her name and her legacy." Rouge tossed a cherry into the air and caught it in her mouth. She pulled out the stem and threw it over a shoulder towards the garbage can. It froze in mid air when it was far enough away from her. "Here I thought _she_ was going to be the spy. I didn't think the camera she had on her person...was," Rouge shivered, "IN her actual eyeball. At least we should be able to find out the real story of how the duchess lost her eye." Rouge rubbed her goosebumped arms as she realized the tales of duchess weren't terribly exaggerated.

Shadow nodded. "The Duchess of Roses. I knew her name was 'Amy Rose', but I never thought to put two and two together...and that means...that idiot..." He stabbed the spoon he used into the ice-cream pile. "He out-ranks me," he growled and hit a fist on the table.

"What? How?"

He rested his elbows on his knees and held his head lowered in his hands. "Because he's a duke," Shadow said and held his headache. "A goddamn duke, Rouge! Even if I'm in control of the entire military, I still don't outrank someone of the royal family! In fact, simply over the things I've said to him _today_ , I could be stripped of my title and thrown in jail. I'd never see the light of day again!"

Rouge scoffed, "As if they could contain you. Besides, Sonic's not the type to hold a grudge. In fact, didn't you say he was trying to make peace with you?"

"That's what makes this even worse! I don't need pity from that fool!" He hit the table with both fists and the ice-cream bucket jumped. "I joined the military with purpose. That purpose has been completely lost!"

Rouge held up a hand. "Wait a second! Didn't you see the look on everyone's face? With how much Amy likes to hold back information, I doubt she's even told Sonic about her lineage. He's not giving you pity because he knows his title, he's just being a nice guy."

"...I suppose...but still...it's aggravating to know how easy that slacker has it." Shadow considered the interactions he'd had with his rival recently. "Sonic didn't come across as having an ulterior motive. He's too honest and clueless to hide things like that...but his partner...Amy Rose O'Hedge..." Shadow froze in fear. "Shit..."

"What's wrong?"

"I called her a 'pink psycho' once...and she knows," he said and grabbed his spoon again. "We'll finish what we can of this and then look around the lab. Then we give the rest of this shit to the two new assholes and call it a day."

Rouge waved a hand at shoulder level. "I'm putting in a request to smoke, drink a bottle of wine and relax in a hot tub for the rest of the evening."

Shadow sighed. "Request...granted." With defeat, he helped Rouge finish as much of the ice-cream as possible.

* * *

Poor Shadow, it was all for naught. XD


	79. Chapter 79: Internal Struggle

How I described the last chapter to my partner: I revealed that Amy Rose is royalty to Shadow and now he's a saaaad panda. ;P

* * *

 **-Chapter 79: Internal Struggle-**

* * *

Rolph did his best to scoop the last of the ice cream and caramel bits from the bucket bottom with a spatula. "Did Ultimate seem off to you?" He sat next to his sister.

Anne nodded. "A bit. His name's Shadow, by the way." She had her fill of ice cream and laid on her side on the couch in front of the TV. She used the table bound remote and switched through the stations. Her tail pushed buttons.

"And I say that's dumb," he said and chewed through a wad of sugar candy. "He's not a fucking shadow, he's 'Ultimate', he should be called as such."

"You got the hots for your brother, or something? Gross."

He blushed in embarrassment. "Wha-n-no! Bitch! You're one to talk! You wanted my seed to get yourself pregnant; you sow!" He continued to try and chew the caramel chunk.

Anne huffed. "In a test tube! You know our genes would produce viable and powerful offspring!"

He slurped sweet saliva and avoided drooling. "With webbed feet! We'll have to get a family of fucking gander to raise them to lick pots!"

"Racist!" she growled at him. "Whatever! What was your point in the first place? You were wondering why 'Ultimate' was bummed out."

Rolph nodded and managed to consume the obscene amount of sugar. "Yeah. He was fine when we got dropped off, but now he seems...distracted."

Anne went back to channel surfing. "Maybe he's interested in something on the monitor. The selection grew considerably since the cute little fox boy hooked up that satellite." With her tail wrapped around the base of the immobile remote, her tail tip clicked the channel button.

Arms folded, he sat back comfortably. "I doubt that."

' _H-hey_ ,' a voice sounded.

"What?" Rolph asked.

Anne looked at him. "I didn't say anything."

' _Dummies!_ ' the voice said louder.

The twins looked at the monitor. Gray and white static slowly bled up from the bottom of the screen and distorted the coloured image completely. A indistinct face with two angled, red eyes, appeared on the monitor. ' _You are prisoners too, I see-ee-e-I see._ '

"That's fucking creepy, cut it out!" Rolph said as he threw the ice cream bucket at the screen. He missed and the tub spattered sugar goop across the floor. The lights flickered. "Not okay! Stop it!" He mounted the back of the couch, ready to hide behind it at a moment's notice.

Anne laughed maniacally. "Wuss. It's 'Carnival of Souls' all over again."

"Shut up," he said and took his leg from behind the furniture and sat normal.

He continued. ' _Get me out of here and we all go free. Last door. Bottom floor. We can take ov-o-over this p-p-place and e-en-end them all,_ ' he continued.

"Is this a test?" Anne asked. "I don't like tests."

"I never thought of that." Rolph stood up and spoke to the static on the screen. "I'm not on board either. You sound like you're going to fuck stuff up for us." He knocked on the screen. "If you were so awesome to team up with, why you a prisoner? Cuz you probably actually suck, a lot; or Anne is right and this is some sort of test of our loyalty. Either way, fucking weak attempt. Get a life." He walked back over to Anne and sat down. "You're probably right."

"I know it," Anne said and tried to change the channel again.

The voice and face persisted despite the flickering stations. ' _You are correct in-in-in saying I was weak. I was n-not-not-not vicious enough. So very weak. No fangs. Though this is no test of loyalty. I-I'm dy-d-dying. I want freedom to get revenge for being imprisoned so-so-so long. I'm begg-g-g-ging_.'

"Go on," Rolph said as he rotated a hand.

Anne grumbled, "Great time for empathy, huh?"

"What the hell is your problem? I want to hear the guy out!"

She held a hand out to the TV. "I want to see how far cinematography has come. Can't he infest a radio to beg for his pitiful existence?"

"Harsh." He turned back to the TV. "Can you do that instead?"

' _No. They have n-no stones to channel my con-consciousness. The only radio I could use would a-a-alert the doctor to my pre-presence._ '

"Sad, so limited in your abilities," Rolph sighed. "Sit tight. I'll see if I can snoop around here. Bottom floor, last door, right?"

Anne huffed in derision.

"What? I've developed empathy," he said and walked backwards towards the door that led to adventure, "That and I'm bored." He turned around and left to see if he could duck past Snively.

At Tails workshop, Cream adjusted a camera's focus. She centered her and Cheese on screen for an upcoming conversation with her mother. Tails had the camera rigged so Cream could eventually walk around town and show her mother the island, in real time.

"It's ringing," Tails said happily.

With excitement, Cream spun around twice on her swivel-stool seat. "I've never talked to my mom while I was away before. This is going to be so cool to show her the island, not only with pictures anymore," she said and hugged her Chao egg close, "You too."

Tails threw open the garage door and let in the island's remaining heat and light. The day drew to a close as the sun began it's journey toward the horizon.

Five rings later and Cream's mother, Vanilla, appeared on screen. She sat atop a roof, beneath a large yellow umbrella, in the midday sun. "Hi, mom!" Cream said energetically.

Vanilla was shocked and delighted to see who'd called from the unfamiliar number. "My sweet baby-girl, what a surprise! Are you still on the island?"

"I am! My new friend Tails set up this new satellite system with some special kind of rocks. We can pick up radio signals from the mainland, make calls and even watch or broadcast television now."

"How novel. It's so amazing what technology is able to do today. When I was a young girl, it was nothing like-" Vanilla was about to reminisce until she saw Tails with his two tails in the background. "Hold on a moment. Aren't you Rosemary and Amadeus boy, Miles?"

Tails turned to face the screen, "Yes, I am. Pleasure to meet you, Miss Vanilla."

"Likewise. We'll have to talk more later on."

"No problem," he said with a nod.

Vanilla went back to her daughter. "Cream, sweetheart, we do business with the Prower family. What a coincidence you two became friends." Vanilla giggled as she noticed her daughter play with the hem of her skirt nervously. "I'm glad to see you getting out there and making friends on the island."

Cream nodded. "It was a bit scary at first, but Vector encouraged me to be more social. He's really sweet on you, mum," Cream said and made her mom blush.

"He's such a rogue," she said with endearment.

Cream continued, "I managed to meet all of Team Sonic because of him; then Team Sonic ended up introducing me to Mina Mongoose. It's been a super awesome visit. Mina even gave me this cool new outfit to wear. It's a skort," she said and showed off the attire.

Vanilla was shocked. "Wow, the Songgoose herself; I'm a bit jealous. You'll have to get me an autograph. It sounds like this has been quite an exciting trip for you, honey."

Cream nodded. "You bet!" She got ready to introduce Cheese who'd been brought to life from her former toy.

"I'll leave you two to talk," Tails said quietly. He pointed to the latch that would release the camera, mouthed the words 'got it?' and received a thumbs up from Cream.

Tails left out the large garage door and quickly called Sonic.

' _What's up buddy?_ '

He went into serious mode. "Snively Robotnik is at Eggman's lair."

It was a name that froze Sonic in his tracks. 'Snively is Eggman's nephew?' He recalled a conversation from Eggman shortly after they got back and another from years ago. Amy had taken him to a random town meeting where she insisted he meet folks from overseas who invested in Seaside Island. He gave his best impression, ' _Zut Alors, he was ze man who shot out your papa's eye, wuzent he?!_ '

Tails laughed half heartedly, "Yeah."

' _No disrespect to you, or Amy's friend Tonie-anyway-aren't we all cool now? The Kingdom of Acorn, The Kingdom of O'Hedge and The Iron Kingdom are all on some treaty thing, aren't they?_ '

Tails was shocked. "'A plus' on the memory and props for doing your homework."

' _Heh, I literally learned that fact two minutes ago. Honestly, after watching Shadow and Rouge take orders from Amy and then salute her, I'm apt to keep up with the times now; she knows whats going on. I guess letting her drag me to all those meetings and 'elbow bumping occasions' is paying off now. What's the issue? Did he say anything to you?_ '

"No, I kept my second tail out of sight and used the secret entrance to Eggman's lab to avoid him or his wife Regina recognizing me. I know I have nothing to fear, but that'd be an awkward confrontation."

' _Aren't we all going to be at the same fancy meet and greet when the O'Hedge royal family visits?_ '

Tails eyes shot open and he slapped a hand to his forehead in shock. "They're visiting and we're going to meet them!? Are you sure?"

There was chatter in the background. ' _What? Oops, hang on,_ ' Sonic said. A brief quiet explanation was given to him from Amy. He came back to Tails. ' _I wasn't supposed to tell you that. Forget I said anything._ '

Tails was upset, "N-no! I will not!"

There was shuffling, a few beeps and then Amy joined the conversation via her communicator. ' _Don't make any waves and keep to yourself,_ ' Amy's frantic voice came over the speaker. ' _Seriously, treaty or not, The Iron Kingdom has a short fuse. It was everything in our power to get them to side against The Kingdom of Gia'kum and that lump, Duchad the Binturong. They're both right wing enthusiasts, have a penchant for absorbing smaller nations and have no problem waving that xenophobic flag._ '

He raised an eyebrow. "How in the world did we get them to sign a treaty in the first place?"

' _Because we have Eggman,_ ' she said regretfully.

' _Egghead's the lynchpin? That's worrying,_ ' Sonic said.

' _If not for his love of this island and his ability to make and test weaponry here, we'd have been overtaken by Gia'kum years ago; and when I say years, I mean about twenty-_ ' Amy quickly gasped.

"What?" Tails said with worry.

' _Hang on,_ ' Sonic said.

Tails heard him comfort Amy and told her to sit down.

' _Back to you,_ ' Amy continued, slightly out of breath. ' _Dr. Eggman was the one who managed to talk his nephew Snively, and his wife Regina, into siding with us. Doing so meant he had protection from our kingdoms and could make and test weaponry for the Iron Kingdom without consequence, all the while, Seaside Island had protection from him, hence, Team Sonic. I'm not joking, don't have any contact with them unless you have_ to.'

"I have the copy of Rouge's necklace being made now. It'll be done in a little while...in Eggman's lair," he said regretfully.

' _It's alright,_ _Tails; if you do need to go to the lair again, you only need to put on pants and a shirt. Regina doesn't like anthro's who aren't 'civilized'._ '

"That's...upsetting." Tails was hurt and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, I didn't realize. I should have made these in my lab, but I didn't want Cream to know about all of this."

' _It's okay. I plan to get the team together tomorrow plus Shadow, Rouge, Vector and a few others included, and we'll go over all that's happening in the next couple weeks. I have an exact date for the party, so trust me when I say we have plenty of time to mentally prepare for meeting royalty and dealing with all the political drama._ '

He exhaled a breath he'd been holding a while. "I've talked to a Governor General before and I think that's as close to royalty as I've gotten."

' _I took a selfie with a anthropomorphic Sub Sandwich with a crown, does that count?_ ' Sonic asked.

Amy sighed. ' _We'll be fine. Trust me._ '

* * *

Cuz, why not? XD


	80. Chapter 80: Take it Slow

Get it? You will. O_O

* * *

 **-Chapter 80: Take it Slow-**

* * *

With time frozen, Rouge and Shadow looked high and low in Eggman's lair for the chaos technology they'd recovered from various temple locations around the island. Nearly an hour had past and the duo came up dry.

Shadow stood impatiently behind his partner. "Hurry up. It's not good to keep time frozen this long."

She attempted to relock a deadbolt from the outside. It was the last door in a long line of doors that blocked Shadow's teleportation technique. Her pick tip broke. "Phooey. Why's that?" She put it away in her bag and stood with him.

"It messes with time your time dilation. We're fine for now, but at the one hour mark, I have to reset the moment."

"That was my last pick anyway. I'll get more tomorrow while I'm out with Amy. We can get the other side of the hall then." Rouge took his arm and they teleported to the hot tubs on the second highest level on Eggman's lair.

Time began to move normally again. The water jets hummed and Drink-Bot cleaned and buzzed around behind the bar. Rouge looked hopeful with her eyes shut, fingers crossed and muttered 'please be done' a few times, for luck.

"We're done for the evening," he announced.

"Yes!" Rouge stripped down on the spot and climbed into the bubbling water. She was overtaken by the bubbles and sighed in relief.

Shadow laid his shoes to the side and followed suit. He sunk down across from her but was overtaken by frustration instead. He grumbled.

"It isn't so bad, dear, relax. Even if it's all gone, we know there's more tech out there waiting to be dug up in the 'big one'. Additionally, Amy's got a dozen pretty blue bobbles to boost our own forces. Who knows what else she has up her sleeve?"

He sighed. "That's not what I'm frustrated about, well, not the only thing. Do you realize how many names I've called him?"

Her shoulders slumped. "We're back on this again, are we?"

"Yes, we are." He clenched both fists but then used one of them to count. "I've called him an idiot, blue idiot, fool, dumbass, blue prick; and that's only in the past week! I've showed disdain for the affections he's shown his partner and friends, I'm sure he can see my outward frustration nearly every time we speak, and to top it all off, when I had him accompany me to the temple, he was _literally_ stabbed him in the back! I call him an invasive bird species and then try to snub him out? It looks like I did it intentionally."

Rouge blinked a few times after the rant. "Invasive bird species?"

Shadow pointed behind his head. "The Blue Prick," he said and referenced the small, canary like birds that lined a small section of Eggman's lair's roof. "They're noisy bastards first thing in the morning."

Rouge held a hand over her eyes and shielded some of the sunset's glare. Atop the lair, she saw a line of vibrantly coloured blue birds snuggling down tightly for the impending night. "They're adorable," she said with a smile.

"They were a conservation effort that went wrong. Once endangered, now a nuisance. I figured it was a fitting nic-name."

"Scathing." Rouge raised an eyebrow. "Unfortunately, 'prick' is another word commonly used for 'penis' or 'dick', so I'm afraid your subtle 'intelligent burn' went unappreciated."

He shot forward from his lounged position, "That's even worse!"

"Oops. Again, try not to think about it," Rouge said as she reached into a cooler attached to the side of the luxury, mahogany lined hot tub. She retrieved a random bottle. The side of the expensive liquor bottle was indecipherable. "We'll be fine."

"No, you don't get it! I signed a contract; if the colonel found out I fooled around with you, HE will split me in half, _darling_!"

Rouge blushed, "I was debating on if you remembered anything that night, or not."

"I remember, trust me. Amy definitely heard everything." Shadow leaned back and sunk down only enough to _not_ drown. "She did make food for me the next day...and coffee...so...I don't understand." He felt the warm rays on his head cool with every moment. He looked up and saw Rouge extend the bottle of drink she got from an attached cooler.

"Courtesy of Snively. Have a drink with me."

"You're stealing it?"

"Of course."

"I'm not opening it for you then."

"Rude," she said and then attempted to take the cork out herself.

He cocked his head off in a different direction, "Why are you offering me that anyway?"

"We're not doing anything tomorrow but a lunchtime meeting; I ask you: Why not?"

Shadow sat up straight and kept eye contact with Rouge. "Hugh told me things."

She rearranged the alcohol for a better grip. "Things? What things exactly?"

"My body can't process liquor effectively."

Rouge chuckled sheepishly. "I figured you'd catch on. Three years though, gotta give me credit." She fought with the cork to release. It slowly budged.

"Credit?"

She repositioned the bottle to once again optimize grip. "I had a friend in high school who was the exact same way. She could only drink a small amount of booze if she didn't take a special kind of medication." Rouge tapped her chest with a finger. "I knew the first time we drank that you were a lightweight. Did you ever notice that I was the only one bringing you drinks? I always made sure you didn't go overboard...like at the Christmas party." She muttered the last part and it was ignored.

Shadow thought about it. "..."

She stood up in the water and placed the bottle between her thighs and tried a different angle. "Honestly, I'm jealous," she said with strain, "Who wouldn't want to get drunk off a single drink? You save on calories. I'm sure it would have left my pocketbook a little heavier in the past." The cork finally released with a satisfying pop, flew out of her hand and made a crisp, clear 'ting' off of Drink-Bot's head. "I joke. Much like this one, I stole most of my liquor as a teenager. The rest was bought for me." She took several long swigs of the expensive booze.

"I don't doubt it."

She caught her breath and gave a short 'woo' of approval, then added, "As you shouldn't." She held out the bottle and it was refused. "More for me. The only drinks you had at that luau were mine, whatever you had when I went to look for Eggman's cameras, then whatever shot you had before bed. I told the bartenders and my boys to watch out for you, but I didn't expect Sonic to be the 'shots' kind of guy, he slipped by; but if you ordered anything yourself, you were served pop."

Shadow was stunned by the revelation. "How did I not notice?"

She shrugged. "Probably because you don't know what root beer tastes like. Anyway, that shot you had, the coconut rum, must be over-proof. I tried it and, yeesh. No wonder you passed out cold."

He recalled that he ordered a beverage while Rouge was 'off-screen'. "If there was no alcohol in the drink..." He realized it meant he chatted to Sonic of his own accord. "A placebo effect? How? I'm supposed to be 'Ultimate'. It's why I was created. If I'm so weak in mind and body, what makes me 'Ultimate' exactly?"

"Are you being serious?" Rouge said and poked his forehead. "You 'literally' regrew my uterus."

"Great, I regrew the uterus of someone who never wanted kids; fantastic." He slumped down in the water again. The sun nearly touched the horizon of the hot tub and the actual horizon from his perspective.

Rouge looked hopeful. "Dear, did you ever consider the reason I felt that way? Maybe it was because I knew I would never be able to have children, from an early age."

"...I hadn't considered that." An alarm went off in the background. "Worst timing possible for this," he said and got out of the water.

Rouge sat up of the edge of the tub and left her feet to soak. "I'll say. What's that alarm for?" It was a light but rapid buzzing noise.

"Breaking and entering. I'll go check if it's anything serious; you can stay here." Shadow quickly teleported into the building. Any water on his fur was left behind and hit the ground with a sprinkle.

"Sure thing," she said and went right back to relaxing in the tub with her unknown drink.

Shadow appeared in the main room. He looked around. "Where's Rolph?"

Anne got scared by the sudden appearance and ripped the remote off the table with her tail. She pointed with exasperation. "He went chasing ghosts, over in that direction." She went back to the TV and continued to use her tail to channel surf.

"Ghosts?" Shadow looked for his presence with the hivemind. He teleported to where Rolph was. It was the room he and Rouge had skimmed and apparently forgot to lock up again. "What are you doing in here?"

Rolph stood up and held a rather large, action figure shaped thing in his right hand. "I got bored and wandered around."

"You were told to stay on the main floor." He stepped through the room filled with boxes and storage containers. Clothing collected dust in a back closet. "Why are you in here?"

Rolph shrugged and the thing in his hand flopped backward. "I wanted to snoop around, this door was unlocked, I figured it was a match made in heaven. I found boxes and wanted to paw through them for neat shit. I already found a toy," he said and held up the black and red toy he'd found, by it's two hands. It's head slumped forward. "It kinda looks like me, I got attached, named it 'Sven'."

"You're a grown man, you don't need toys."

Rolph folded his arms and the thing he held flopped around more. "Listen, brother-"

He cut him off, "-we aren't there yet. Call me Shadow."

Rolph was offended. "Fine, Shadow-" he said with contempt, "-I was only in my adult form for a couple weeks before Hugh went all noble and buried me and Anne."

"You sold out your family and your friends, I can't blame him for what he did. Now put that down and get out of here." He eyed the humanoid looking trinket. It looked harmless.

Rolph squeezed the thing in his hand, but quickly remembered what he held. "I sold my family out?! I was tested on nearly every day of my life! I had no opportunity to get out there and make a better life for myself. I wanted to have a home and a family, Shadow! But what did I get?! Imprisonment, testing and let's not forget, experimentation!" He pointed to his closed right eye. "I heard from Snively that you joined the military, and that you're a Major. Ha! And you blame Anne and I for wanting help from the military for all our suffering? Fuck you; you stuffed yourself so far up their ass you can't even see the light of day, much like us, buried alive for four damn decades. Apparently, we can't die, so we could only sit there until we either got dug up, or the world ended. Either one, we didn't care. It's not like we could have escaped this island anyway. Look at Hugh. Where'd he end up? Living like a savage in the jungle. Can you really blame me for wanting to get out of here?" Rolph took a breath after his rant. "What? Got nothing to say?"

Shadow waited a second. "Are you done?"

"What?"

"Are you finished talking?"

He stammered. "I...yeah...I think I'm done...if I think of more, I'll let you know."

"Now that you know what listening looks like, may I speak?" Shadow was oddly calm.

Rolph's right cheek clenched in anger. He hesitated but gave in. "Go ahead."

"The fact you were tested and experimented on was unfair, that's true. Though if you were to be in normal society, you'd have been tested on a daily basis. Trust me, everyday is a new test. Based on the papers Amy Rose researched so far, you and your sister have a history of recreational drug use. You'd have experimented on yourself anyway. Next, imprisonment? Hardly. I saw the facilities you were kept in and they had the best amenities. It's true you had to stay there, but you were free to go outside so long as you were back by curfew. Your freedoms were revoked after you tried to escape; and that was only to be temporary."

"I miss Barb," Rolph said with sadness and recalled the night in question.

"Focus." Shadow said sternly. "If you were to live on your own, you'd still have rules and regulations to follow. You wouldn't be able to live wherever you wanted without hard work and a solid job; the very thing you were complaining about having to do in the first place. It seems you want everything but aren't willing to put out the effort to get it done. I joined the forces to prove I had the ability to control myself and be able to take orders as a subordinate. I'm not a loose cannon and the Black Arm don't control me. You need to let go of that anger. You call Hugh a savage, but consider this: Hugh's so removed from his anger of being 'created' and being part of a hivemind, he doesn't even need inhibitor rings."

Rolph looked at the being in his hand next to the gold bracelet, pinned and held through his wrist. "It's hard to let go after you've been hurt so bad," he said and looked at the rings on his ankles as well. "Maybe if we had the ability to take these off...I'd feel better. I mean, I'd still wear em to mute the screaming Black Arm voices, but the trust would be nice."

Shadow gave it some thought. "That seems like a fair compromise, though it'll take time to build trust first. We'll have to wait for the doctor to be out of surgery anyway."

Rolph gave him a weak smile and held up the 'doll' thing. "Mind if I hang on to this? It's neat lookin'."

He returned the smile. "Fine. Don't break it. I don't know if holds any sentimental value to Dr. Eggman."

Rolph brightened up. "I'll take super good care of it. No prob." He saluted.

"Now get out of here."

He scurried towards and out the door, "Right, sorry, I'm gone," he said and puttered off in his sister's direction.

Shadow teleported back to Rouge and made her jump.

"Geez, I'd say give me warning but-" she said with a sigh. "Is it all taken care of?"

Shadow felt pleased with himself. He kicked off his shoes and got back in the hot tub. "Rolph was being nosy. I had a talk with him; I think it went well."

Rouge settled back down. "That's a relief."

"I'll say. The last thing we need is trouble from the inside; we have enough working against us as is."

Rouge eyeballed the bottle of drink at it's fifty percent point. "Indeed. Speaking of the inside, did you give the scoop to the colonel?"

"Not yet."

"Are you going to?"

"...not yet."

Rouge's communicator went off. "Oop, hold the phone, that may be him." She looked and saw Sonic's number. "Scratch that," she said and answered. A series of gruff, garbled speech sounding noises came from the other end of the line. "Woah, woah, slow down, sweetie. Once more, use your words," she said and put on the speaker phone.

Sonic's 'calm' werehog voice came over the line. ' _Amy's going into labour. Get Shadow to freeze time and come over here._ '

The two exchanged a rapid glance. "Chaos control!" Shadow froze their time in space. "What did he say?!" The water followed them and froze in unnatural ways as they got out.

"That's not good. Amy isn't due for another few weeks." She got out and wrapped herself in a towel. She held on to Shadow's arm.

They teleported to the living room of the hedgehog couple. In the kitchen, a concerned werehogged Sonic on his communicator stood next to Amy. She doubled over in pain and held the counter with one hand, her belly with the other. Sticks was at her other side, equally as worried and did her best to steady her best friend. Xaun was across the living room, he'd put his tools down to assess the situation with the others.

Shadow brought Sonic up to speed with them.

Sonic grabbed Shadow by the arms and picked him up to eye level. "Help!"

He was shocked at the size and strength Sonic had. "That was our intention. Though, why are you like this?" He looked at the wall clock. "It's far too early."

"Stress is apparently a trigger!" Sonic put him down. "Sorry. I'm not ready for this. Amy's not ready to give birth. And they're especially not ready to be born." He rambled in panic.

Shadow went up to Amy and held a hand out to her but didn't touch her. "These children are ready to be born. They aren't' premature," he said, knowing there was another problem.

"B-but we had ultrasounds done! She shouldn't be ready yet."

"How often does she use chaos control?" Shadow asked.

It hit him. "Holy crap. She froze time to read most of this," he said and extended his arm to show off the cluttered living room. "Witness the seething tsunami of information inside Amy's head. I didn't even ask her how many times and how often she'd freeze time to get stuff done. And here I thought she wasn't taking a break. She was taking plenty of breaks. She said she kept time frozen for over a day once," he laughed at himself.

"What? That's troublesome." Shadow took in the information. "There's a solution to this. I want to state that from the beginning. To ease your mind, I can fix this entirely. It's physically painless."

"Lay it on me." Sonic sat cross-legged on the floor at Amy's feet. He held her in the sun dress she got from her favorite online store outlet.

Shadow continued. "Existence works differently when you use chaos control. Time will be frozen for everyone, but for you, it'll be sped up slightly. This effect is called time dilation, and in small doses, it's not noticeable. However, time dilation will increase the longer the power is being invoked. Even when not in use, if used too long or too often, time will continue to move quicker for you; in this case, for Amy and your two children. Even after they're born, they'll age rapidly. It'll be far more noticable for a newborn, and that's not good."

"I think I get it." Rouge caught on before Sonic did. "Unlike in the movies where they simply become a child with a child's mind, they'll miss milestones and have severe learning difficulties," she said from behind a pile of papers on the opposite side of the room. "Right?"

Shadow nodded, slightly confused by Rouge's actions. "C-correct. As I said though, we can fix this." He approached Amy. With his right hand held palm up, he produced his red chaos emerald. "I could feel her time flowing differently." The gem floated in mid air and lightly glowed. As he brought it closer and farther away from Amy, the speed of it's spin changed and it's light intensity grew and dimmed. The magical stone vanished as quickly as it appeared. "I can freeze time for only Amy Rose. I can keep time frozen for her and the little ones for months at a time. I can test her every couple of days to see if her time is flowing normally again. Though it'll probably be around the time you two were expecting in the first place."

Sonic didn't know what to say so he repeated the last thing that made sense to him. "Her time is sped up? I guess that explains how she remembered so much so quickly." Sonic heaved a deep breath. "Is that all? Frozen for a few weeks? You'll do that for us?"

"Of course."

He lowered his head deeply and it rested against Amy's leg, "Thank you, Shadow."

Shadow concentrated and the time magic that surrounded them, snapped back to him. All but Amy were freed from chaos control's hold.

"Amy! Amy? What's happened?" Sticks attempted to make Amy move.

"Hold on, it's alright, Shadow's got her frozen." Sonic reached out and comforted Sticks who was on the verge of a panic attack.

Xaun was equally baffled by what was now in front of him. He blushed when he noticed Rouge hid behind him in a towel. "Now I'm really confused."

Shadow took a seat on the couch nearest Amy. "The stipulation with this is that I can't teleport until she's back to normal. Teleportation and chaos control use the same magic channels. I can still use my spear, fortunately."

Sonic sat across from his rival. "Amy wanted to hold a meeting with everybody tomorrow too," he said and folded his arms. "I'll have to go through her notes and see if it was anything dire. I mean, it was for everyone."

"She also wanted to have a meeting with me to do some snooping. Now I won't get to," Rouge sounded distraught. "I know it must have been something to do with the corruption at town hall." She kept her distance from the new werehog form. She used Xaun as a shield.

"I'll figure out what I can and we'll all meet here tomorrow at noon." Sonic picked up Amy's small binder and felt the weight it had.

* * *

:P


	81. Chapter 81: It Hits The Fan

If it isn't one thing, it's another! X_X

* * *

 **-Chapter 81: It Hits The Fan-**

* * *

Sonic gave Rouge one of Amy's spare dresses to wear in place of her towel. She sat back on the couch and put cushion over her face. She anxiously apologized. "I'm sorry. I don't know why your face is scary to me right now. Beauty is on the inside, never forget that, dear."

Sonic, stuck in werehog mode, said reassuringly, "It's okay, Rouge; I've looked in a mirror, it's not pretty. When I calm down, the salve should work." Despite the generous amount he applied, he stayed big and bulky. "Stress triggers it more than the salve prevents it, I guess."

"This puts us at a huge disadvantage," Shadow said. "I've given it some thought, and I think it may be best to speak to Amy before we keep her like this for too long. She's your partner, so ultimately, I'll leave that decision up to you; but without her knowledge, you all seem lost-" he said and hesitated in his correction, "Rather, 'we' seem to be lost."

"That's putting it lightly." Sonic sat next to his frozen partner in the kitchen. "...I suppose this isn't something we can wait on, is it?"

Shadow nodded. "Correct. Leaving her in suspension without interruption is the only way to fix this issue. You should decide within the hour."

"I can do that," Sonic said and stood up.

Rouge cringed and hid harder.

"What's going on, Rouge? Why are you acting like that?" Shadow asked his partner who was unusually scared at the moment.

She shook her head and peeked out from behind her pillow shield. "I'm not sure. I started to feel kind of funny when we got here and so far it's only gotten worse. I'm all shaky and nervous feeling, everyone's eyes look weird, I'm confused and queasy." She lowered her head to her knees with the cushion in between.

Shadow felt a familiar nervousness. "Maybe it was the thing you drank at Eggman's." He stood up and moved and spoke quickly. "I'll go back to the lair and see what it was. While I'm gone, you should decided what you want to do. Remember, you have an hour."

"Wait," Rouge requested with Shadow halfway out the door. "A green tea; when you get back?"

"Par for the course," he said and shut the door behind him.

"Should we go?" Xaun asked.

Sticks nodded. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea. If you're gonna unfreeze Ames, she's probably gotta tell you **more** stuff we shouldn't be hearin'. Call us back when you're finished though." She and Xaun gathered their belongings.

Sonic nodded. "I'll do that."

Xaun gave reassurance, "I'm sure you'll enjoy meeting King Rob. I hear he's a decent guy. Likes to laugh," he said and shouldered his tool box strap that balanced a heavy wooden, open-faced toolbox.

Sticks grumbled. "De' King may be fine, but I won't enjoy the party. I don't do well in crowds."

He opened the door for them. "Ya' handled yourself fine at uncle Re-re's party," he said and got a 'HA' out of Sonic.

Sticks made Sonic silent with wild side eyes. "I meant them fancy ones with dresses and uncomfortable shoes," she said and closed the door behind them.

The other two were left with Amy.

Rouge intentionally fell to her side on the couch. She peeked out from behind her pillow once again. She saw Sonic had shrouded himself in a throw blanket and some sunglasses. She sat up and sighed. "Thank you. You're not as big as you were on the first night, are you," she said with the pillow on her lap. She still fidgeted in her spot.

"That's right. Turns out this is way more complicated than it needs to be."

She stood up and rubbed her arms. A strong pulse inside her head made her eyes shut with discomfort. The head rush soon passed as she made her way across the room. "How so?"

"It's because I have a combo-...uh, what are you doing?" He watched Rouge mess around with his sound system.

"Nothing, keep talking," she said hastily and managed to turn the music on. The sounds of a local rock station Sonic had been listening to earlier that day filled the room. She then made her way to the bathroom with a wing flap for speed and a hand to her mouth for insurance. She shut the door behind her. "Keep talking," she said from out of sight.

Sonic sympathetically spoke over the music and the bathroom tap that also ran. "I guess I can word it like: I got two types of 'werehog' because of the incident. I'll have this one during the time the moon is getting dark and another when it's becoming full." He heard coughing. "You okay?"

"Fine, darling! Tell me more," she said quickly from behind the door.

While Rouge was comforted with 'white noise chit-chat', Sonic extended arm to the kitchen. He tended to the chili that still cooked on the stove. He went on about his triggers and how Sticks and Xaun managed to help him sort out the right herbs. He complained about the ongoing 'beard' issue. He also lamented that Amy would now be frozen for Mina's concert.

When he heard the sound of a flush, he spoke up again, "There's a container of spare toothbrushes under the sink."

After Rouge washed up and brushed her teeth, she laid back down on the couch. "That's rather embarrassing; sorry."

Sonic retracted his arm from the kitchen. "Don't worry about it. After helping Ames through her morning sickness, I'm numb to that sort of thing now. There were even a couple times I camped out in the tub and went over her schedule to cancel stuff with her, until she felt better."

"That's sweet of you," she said and rubbed her eyes sleepily. In washing up, she'd removed her makeup and safely touched her face without worry. "Sonic, what do you know about Shadow?"

He forgot to replace the lid to the chili and extended an arm once again to do so. He sat across from Rouge who was in a fetal position on his couch. "Not much, honestly. He mostly keeps to himself."

"No kidding. How do you have a six year military career without hooking up once? Without having a drink once? Without doing SO many things someone of Shadow's intelligence would have done plenty of times by now? How?" She prattled.

Sonic noticed Rouge's pupils had heavily dilated. "I couldn't tell you. He's very goal driven and those sorts of things-" Sonic was cut off mid-sentence when the living room lights brightly flashed and suddenly went dead. "-don't further his cause."

Rouge began to breathe heavily. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure. I'll get our power back on, at least." Sonic went to the closet and powered the house with a generator.

She relaxed a bit.

"Everything went bright for a second there. I think there was a power surge." He attempted to call Shadow but was still blocked. "Dammit, Shadow! I said I was sorry!" He hung up the line. "Rouge, can you call him?"

"I left my communicator near the hot tub." Rouge said with a shrug.

Sonic looked at the communicator on Amy's wrist. She had called Shadow once before, though, he didn't know how much interaction he could have with her before she'd snap out of the time freeze. "We'll have to cross our fingers that Shadow's doing alright. Those twins are sketchy."

"Anne may have gotten the best of him once, but I doubt she'd try anything again." Rouge hugged her pillow tightly in her curled up pose.

"Where are one of the extra remotes you said you had?"

Rouge shook her head. "I lied about those."

"Dammit." He called Tails. "Hey, buddy, where's the necklace to zap the twins? Something's up."

' _That's no good. Fortunately,_ _I left the original remote with Orbot, to give to Regina. He said she watches every one of the monitors to avoid running into anyone in the halls, so she'd be the first to notice anything out of place._ '

Sonic rolled his eyes. "I bet she does. Anyway, did you see the power go out?"

' _No, I'm on my own power supply, so I-,_ ' _There_ was a moment of silence from Tails while he spoke to Cream in the background. ' _Yeah, just now. Cream was on a call with her mom and it dropped on her._ '

"I'll send you Shadow's contact information. See if you can get a hold of him." Sonic sent out the info to Tails.

Tails clicked through a spare communicator. ' _...negatory. He's not taking calls from unknown numbers; he and I hadn't exchanged contact info yet._ '

"Why not?" Sonic asked.

With a nervous laugh, ' _I know we're all good for now, but he's still pretty intimidating._ ' He attempted to talk casually, ' _Hey, Shadow-Bro, hit me up sometime._ '

"Point taken. Alright, I'll see how Rouge is feeling and I'll get back to you."

' _Over and out_.'

Sonic had a lot to contend with. The town was without power. Rouge, who was in the bathroom once again, was having an adverse reaction to whatever she ate or drank. Shadow was completely unreachable. Amy was frozen in place. To top it all off, he was stuck as a werehog and needed to avoid the town folk.

He took a seat and tried to think if what to do next. The music soothed him slightly. Without Amy's input, he had no clue where to begin. "Its been so long since anything happened, I'm starting to forget how to 'Hero'." He laughed ruefully at himself. His quills poked through his fluffed fur and threatened to emerge from the throw blanket he used as cover. He did his best and restrained his stress for when Rouge returned.

When Rouge finally reentered the living room area, she looked drained and dazed. Her glassy eyes wandered around and appeared to stare through everything.

"You sure you're alright? " Sonic asked as he examined her still dilated pupils.

Rouge turned and saw Sonic's cloak and shade ensemble. It terrified her. Her heart raced and pounded as she backed towards a window. "Fine, darling! I, uh, need some air," she said and opened a window.

"Go ahead-uh-woah! Wait! Hold on," he said as he watched her put both legs out the window and took off.

"I said I'm fine! Getting air," she said and was gone like a bat out of a place she didn't want to be.

Sonic's large werehog sized quills bristled as he realized the window was too small for him to go through. "Rouge, wait up! Please," he yelled as he left out the door. His arms lengthened and swung him through the jungle brush. He called the entire team on his communicator. "We have a crisis! Power's down. Amy's frozen. Rouge is missing. Shadow can't be reached. I'm heading for Eggman's lair now, everyone meet me there."

Each member of Team Sonic gave conformation and set out from their various locations and headed for the only place that still had power, Eggman's lair.


	82. Chapter 82: Oh Baby

So close...so very close XD

* * *

 **-Chapter 82: Oh Baby-**

* * *

Regina flipped through a few stations on the new television service. "That 'fox child' installed a useless connection. It doesn't even pick up a signal from the Iron Kingdom. Nothing's turning my fancy tonight." Her new gold and emerald heart necklace spun around her finger while she complained. She turned to her husband. "Don't you think this would look maevelous with my blue dress; the one with the train. I got it from Gia'kum, last year."

Snively spoke to his wife calmly, "Indeed it would, my darling; but please remember, you know we musent be rude towards Rouge or Shadow. The Dutchess is rather protective of them. Or must I remind you of the meeting with King Rob?"

She scoffed, "It's a miricle that teal coloured, whiskey sponge remembers anything."

Snively turned away from the monitors and spoke a bit more sternly. "Enough of that talk. If this treaty goes sour, King Rob O'Hedge will have you imprisoned; then, after you father passes, your brother will be left in charge. Is that the kind of kingdom you want to be in your family's legacy?"

Her look of 'offence' faded and she smiled wickedly. "I love it when you take control."

He slicked back his six remaining hairs, "I know you do, my love." He put on his father Cyril's salvaged, gold chain necklace that Mayor Fink had given back to him. "I know my parents wouldn't approve of our plans, but some folks were never meant to live alongside one another. Truly, this will be better for everyone; they'll see, eventually."

Regina put on her gold necklace and laid back seductively on their plush bed(with expensive mahogany frame). "Truly, it will be paradise. Humans with the humans. Anthros with the anthros. Come here, my dear. Show me some human love and put a baby in me," she said and coiled a single finger that drew him closer.

Snively left the monitors to tend to his wife's needs. As he crawled towards her, the power flickered and went out. "For crying out loud," he said and got off the bed.

Regina huffed. "Hurry up and fix this. I need servicing," she said and rolled onto her stomach.

"Yes, yes, right away, my dear," Snively said and made his way to the kitchen to reset the breaker.

Moments earlier, Shadow touched down outside the lair. Before he entered, he shook his quills clean of water. Without the ability to teleport, the trip over the water was a bit more of a hassle. He activated the wrist device Orbot had given him. The front doors opened and he let himself in.

Shadow decided to check in with Anne and Rolph on his way to the hot tub area. He found the two in, what he deemed in the moment as, an odd situation. They were in the kitchen with a small black and red doll. The doll sat in a pink plastic baby's high chair with a bib around it's neck. Anne sat next to it with a full bowl and heaped spoon of baby food. Rolph was next to her with a small toy, presumably, to distract the imaginary child.

Shadow was struck for words.

Rolph turned to eye 'Ultimate' on his good side. "What's your problem? We're behaving."

He shook his head. "I was only checking in. What are you two...?"

Anne looked offended. "You can mind your business! Go! Let me live out the fantasy of caring for a child in peace." She poked a motionless 'doll' in the face with a spoonfull of food. It left a splotch that rolled down it's chin to the bib below.

Shadow felt remorse. He left without saying anything else.

Rolph gave a quiet snicker and rolled his eye. "Nice going, sis." He noticed his sister frozen in place. Actual tears streamed down her face. "Anne, what's wrong?" He leaned over and hugged her.

Her body remained ridgid as she cried into his chest. "I want a real one; I want a real baby. This is like living in the lab all over again."

He hesitated. "I know. Maybe...I could...get that doctor to do that thing you wanted. Do the whole 'test tube baby' thing," he reluctantly said.

Anne dried her eyes and sat up straight. "No, I actually wasn't being serious about that...maybe, not totally serious. Thank you anyway, brother." She had the top of her head kissed and snuggled.

Nominatus grabbed gently at the spoon Anne held. He drank from it then wiped his mouth. "If all goes according to plan, you will get to have many children, my friend."

Anne smiled and dried her eyes some, "I hope so."

"No hope, only patience. I promise you'll be a wonderful and powerful mother one day," he said with a wide smile.

Rolph did his best to not get choked up.

"Look, proof of your nurturing abilities," he said and flexed his tiny arm mucles. "I'm feeling much better already. When I'm at one hundred precent again, bring me near the circuits, I should be able to tap into the whole security system. This place will be ours in a matter of minutes."

Rolph shook his head. "Ultimate's gonna be watching me like a hawk for snooping, so we gotta lay low for now. We got rooms that little shorty is gonna show us to later on. I'll keep my eye peeled for an opportunity."

The virus wrung his hands together. "We'll assemble an army and take this place down from the inside, muhahaha," he said with confidence, but was cut off by the sound of his stomach grumble. "E'heh, maybe after a bit more applesauce first," he said and turned to Anne with the bowl. He took another slurp from the spoon she offered.

Anne smiled happily as she fed him.

Rolph looked relieved. As much as he fought with his sister, to see her _actually_ cry really got to him. He sniffed the air. "Is there cinnamon in that?"

Anne nodded.

"It's really good," Nominatus said, "Though it is rather cold." He rubbed his temples.

Anne brightened up. "I know! I can heat it up in the microwave."

Nominatus agreed. "That sounds like a good idea."

That was the final straw.

With Eggman in surgery, a constant line to Duchad open, Tails printing off a new gold necklace in Eggman's quantum-3D printer, all the residents tuned into the new television service and, or, calling loved ones overseas, the whole electrical system finally gave out when Anne hit the 'start' button to the small chrome appliance.

Nearly the entire lab and _all_ of Hedgehog Village went pitch black.

Anne sighed as her tail helped her feel around in the dark. "That sucks. Oh well, I still have some boiled water I used to make coffee. I'll stick the bowl in that."

Atop the second highest roof in the compound, Shadow found the bottle Rouge had drank from; Drink-Bot had replaced the projectile plug while they were away. He examined the side and was unable to read the foerign text. The top opened with a pop. The liquid was dark brown and smelled a strongly of coffee and other herbs. It smelled deliciously bitter.

Shadow took a small sip. His nanomachines immediately identified the substance and protected him against it. "I should have taken that drink she offered earlier. This is similar to the drug Anne gave me." He turned to go back into the lair when the lights died, along with the bubbles in every hot tub. His wrist device no longer opened the door and he was unable to teleport. "Shit." He tried to call Rouge and heard the sound of her communicator behind him. "Right." He gathered her things and went to the lab door. He generated a red, glowing spear from his chaos emerald magic and used it to force the entrance open. The hall glowed red from the magic's essence. He made his way back to the kitchen with Rouge's bag on his shoulder.

Team Sonic arrived at the front door shortly after the power went down. "Looks like it's out here too," Sonic said and stuck his claws in between the big doors. They parted and let the whole team in, minus Amy and Jules, who were out of comission. Half the team lit up their gear; Sticks and Sonic stayed darkened. "I really need to wire this new tape to light up."

Tails nodded, "I'll get that for you when we're done here." He looked around and saw no emergency lighting on.

"Doesn't Eggman have a backup generator?" Sticks asked as she listened for any sound in the wall. "I hear something, but it's far away."

"I hope so," Sonic said and sniffed the air. He smelled a strange concoction of chemicals, grease and cinnamon. "He said he was going into surgery today. If he lost power, who knows if he's even still alive. We got to find out where he is."

"I doubt the elevator is working, but I know a way to get to the kitchen," Tails said and felt along the wall for a seam to a short door. "...here. Pry this open. The power breaker is in the kitchen downstairs."

Sonic's strength alone wasn't enough to open the secret robot sized door. He and Knuckles both grabbed at the door's edge and slowly pulled it open.

"It's on a spring," Knuckles said with strain. "You guys go through and I'll hold it." He successfully let all the team through. With a quick motion, Knuckles managed to slip past into the dark hallway with them. He and Tails were still the only light sources.

Sonic's form was a bit of a tight fit and he had trouble turning around. "Gonna toss out a guess, but, should I go in the direction of the cinnamon? It's probably where the kitchen is."

"Cinnamon? You've got a heck of a nose, friend. I don't smell anything but motor oil," Tails said with a laugh. "But yeah, give it a go."

Sonic sniffed the air as he led them down the correct succession of corridoors.

All three parties met up at once. Shadow, Snively and Team Sonic ended up at the same hallway junction nearest the kitchen at the same time.

Snively looked mortified. Team Sonic had a monster with them and Shadow held a spear poised and ready to strike. "An ambush?! Guards!" He hit a hidden button on his collar.

Two doors opened on either side of the hallways. Nothing came out of them though.

"Hang on a sec, we're here to see if Eggman's alright. He's in surgery, isn't he? The power went out and we wanna see if he's okay," Sonic asked with his gruff tone.

Shadow put his spear away. "I was here to gather Rouge's things and to check on these two." He referenced the door that separated them from the twins.

Snively let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Yes, I checked a moment ago, my uncle is doing fin-"

Suddenly, Cubot came from one of the open doors and gave a belabored battle cry. His stun baton got Shadow right in the backside.

"Uh-oh," Cubot said as he realized what he'd just done. "I'm sorry, Shadow! Please don't dismantle me; I thought you were a bad guy breaking in. I was just doing my job! Take pity on me! Pleeehheeehheeeez," he sobbed as he begged for forgiveness at Shadow's feet.

Shadow kept his composure and held the sore spot on his rump. Dutchess Amy requested he keep the two bots safe. He grimmaced as he spoke, "It's alright. No harm done."

Cubot and the rest of the group were struck for words. Cubot managed an, "O-okay," as he got up and backed away into the hidey hole. He pulled the door down manually and hid himself in the wall.

"I'll go and reset the breaker." Snively departed from the awkward situation. He used the handle and slid the kitchen door open. Sadly, he was met with an even more awkward sight.

The light from Team Sonic's outfits shon through the door and illuminated the two siblings amidst their roleplay. "Help me!" Rolph said. He was stuffed and stuck in the high chair as Anne tried to force feed him. "I don't like applesauce! And, fuck your cinnamon!"

"Tooooo baaaad. It's what we're eating. No more ice cream," Anne said as she forced a spoon, that she pretended was an airplane, on her applesauce covered brother.

"I'm only here to reset the breaker..." Snively said and reached for the wall nearest the door. With a heave, he switched the lever down and back up again. Slowly, the lights in the compound came back on.

Hedgehog Village was finally illuminated again. The people sighed in relief.

"I'll leave you two to your business," Snively backed out of the door and closed it behind him.

"No, no, no! Don't leave me! She's crazy!" Rolph yelled. He yelled some more as the group went down the hallway. They could hear Anne scold him with a loving, motherly tone.

Shadow felt like two cents and Sonic noticed right away. "What's wrong?"

He hesitated and attempted to rub the sensation of shame off the back of his neck. "...when I was in there a few minutes ago, Anne was feeding a toy, pretending it was a baby. I guess it wasn't 'real' enough."

Sonic felt the same as Shadow. "I know you said they can't have kids, but, that doesn't seem fair. I know you don't want an army of Black Arm hybrids roving around, so why not make an agreement to let them each have one? Security on the island is pretty tight these days."

He nodded in agreement. "Before all else, I need to be sure their intentions aren't in favour of the Black Arm. That'll take time."

"I suppose that's reasonable." Sonic's form suddenly shrunk back down. "There we go." Before he could get any more idle chit chat out, his brain caught up with him. "Rouge is still missing!" He grew back to a werehog again.

Snively was incredibly put off.

"What do you mean missing?!" Shadow yelled with clenched fists.

"I don't know what's up with her, but her pupils were really big and she got scared then she took off out the window."

Shadow held up the bottle from Rouge's bag. "Here, this is what she drank. I can't read it. I think its laced with something."

Sonic's eyes went wide. "That's Yage! Where did she get that?"

Shadow sighed with frustration. "She stole it. What's Yage?"

Sticks spoke up, "It's a toinc the Gogoba's make that gets you in contact with the spirit realm."

Shadow's head slightly tilted to the side.

Sonic chimed in, "You were right, Shadow. It's a drug! A potent one to boot. Rouge is out there in the jungle, at night, tripping balls! We need to find her sooner than later." Sonic took the bottle and sniffed the contents. "Alright. I'll see if I can track her. She was heading in this direction, so we'll fan out when we leave here."

The group left Snively to his devices. "...what an odd bunch." He went back to tend to his wife's more tender 'desires'.

Back at Sonic and Amy's, Xaun returned briefly to retrieve a forgotten a box of nails. He let himself in, grabbed his belonging and on the way back out, got nosy. "So...you know the royal family, huh?" he said to Amy as though she could respond. He stepped to the side a few times and said, "If you don't mind...I'm...just...gonna..." He quickly, and unremorsefully, flipped Amy's binder open.

Aside from notes about the town and Team Sonic, there were a clutch of pictures. "No joke. You're tight with the royals, aren't ya?" He pawed through a few pictures with King Rob and Amy as they did various things together, including horseback riding, archery and sharing a drink. "Huh, she looks younger in these pictures..."

Another photo caught his eye. It was a full picture of the royal family in front of a giant tapistry. He couldn't quite make out the faces in the darkened room; Sonic had forgotten to charge the generator since its last use so it died shortly after being turned on. Though that didn't matter. As if by chance, the lights came back on right before Xaun closed up the binder.

Next to King Rob were his wife, two sons and one daughter. On the daughter's lap, a small baby, no older than two years old. Xaun's heart nearly stopped as he saw the daughter of the King was a teal coloured echidna, with a tan coloured baby. "...no fucking way...it's her...from the festival." He put everything back the way he found it. In a stupor, he went to the fridge, grabbed a beer, cracked it and waited on the sofa for the 'mobile' owner of the house to return. "Uncle Re'Kar is gonna flip his shit...and I don't know if it's gonna be a good thing or not...Amy...trade ya places," he said and cheersed with Amy's nonexistant glass. "You don't gotta answer right now...get back to me..." Xaun sat back and took in all the new information, remorsefully.


	83. Chapter 83: I've Seen Things

Poor Rouge ;)

* * *

 **-Chapter 83: I've Seen Things-**

* * *

Having forgotten her way, Rouge landed in a small clearing in the jungle and sat next to a bush. Her insides ached and throbbed, her head spund and her throat and mouth were dry. It hurt to swallow. "What was I doing?" she spoke to herself. "It was...important..."

A lot of her peripheral vision had left her. Her line of sight was surrounded by an impenetrable ring of darkness. Things made no sense when she looked at them. Multipul times, Rouge turned to her side to view the leaves on the bush. "You're moving...but only when I don't look at you...almost." Regardless of how many times she looked at the foliage, it lost its continuity of motion and the angles of light didn't process.

"That makes no sense...you shouldn't look like that from me turning my head. It's not that dark out. There's a moon...somewhere..." She looked up and was met with a hazy sky. A blur where a moon was hung behind the thin clouds. Multi colored rings bled out from the moon. The coloruful sheen surrounded the semi full moon like a gasoline stain.

For a third time, her body turned against her. Rouge took to all fours and painfully dry heaved. "Come on body, there's noting left," she said with exhaustion. After that bout of queasiness passed she sat back and scuttled away from her spit.

"What was I doing...I was going to get something?" Her mind had no immediate thoughts to go off of. "...I was...at Sonic and Amy's when this started." She buried her head on her knees. "...I'll fly up and see where I am." As she rose to her feet, up and down shuttered with one another. She knelt down. "Or not... _up_ feels like it could be any direction right now." She waved an arm in front of her. The air against her fur felt strange. She stopped. "Enough of that."

Rouge attempted to stretch her wings. "Gravity will tell me which way up is." She couldn't open her wings. She panicked and tried to reach them over her shoulder. Her fur felt long and covered her wings. "What's happening?" She reached around the other side and the result was the same. "My arms look normal...why is my fur doing this?" She tugged at Amy's dress she forgot she wore, thinking it fur.

A pause. Rouge took a deep breath. Her body shook and staggered in strange ways. As she looked around, less things made sense. The trees and leaves smeared together with the ground and lost their depth.

"I'm awake, aren't I? Why am I here?" She thought harder. "Did I go to sleep for the day? Did I wake up...if so, where was I earlier today? I don't even remember waking up. What did I do today? I was...at Sonic and Amy's...because...I can't remember. I was in a hot tub too...but...where was I before that?"

She attempted to gain her barrings again and scanned the area. To her left and right were large trees. Ahead was another tree. Behind her was the shifting bush and yet more trees. She turned and yelled at the bush. "Stop! You don't do that! I'm not moving around that much, you shouldn't look so different." She walked side to side and witnessed the bush's leaves heavily change in color, from a dark to light green and back again. "See. No. You don't do that." She touched the leaves and shook them. "You don't do it when I shake you. It's only when you're still and I'm moving. That's...not right." She left the bush alone. She didn't realise the shift of the bush was from her tunnle vision blurring the bush in her preherferial.

"Why am I out here?" Rouge tried once more to figure out a direction to take. "I was at Sonic and Amy's...after work and a hut tub and...I drank something..." Her mind finally cliked. "There was something in that drink, for sure. Right!" she happily exclaimed. "Shadow and I were in the hot tub after snooping around the lair. Then we went to Sonic and Amy's...and I had to leave because I forgot...my clothes. Did I show up naked? Why? Where's my communicator?"

As she felt for her belongings, Rouge realized she wore Amy's dress. She looked around. "Good. No one saw me be stupid. Now that I've got that figured out." When she lifted the arms of the dress, her wings extended. "There you both are. I'm losing my mind." She folded her wings and let the dress fall over them again. "When I landed...it was this direction," she said and saw the bush again. It moved. "I said stop that!"

Rouge listened for noises. "Nothing sounds right." She clapped her hands a few times. "No...that sounds like I can feel it more than hear it. It feels wavey." She rubbed the sensation from her arms. Rouge made her sound to echolocate. She looked up "...these trees are really tall...I know I flew here...but what I drank must be hitting me hard. I wonder what it was. Feels kind of like those mushrooms I tried back in college."

" _Like driving, flight is a bad way to go. Too much work anyway; I'm tired from puking so much._ "

"No. I'm not doing this," she said to herself. "I've got to get to town and I'm all who's in here. No more talking."

She walked in the direction of any sound that didn't sound similar to everything else.

" _Provided I don't die, this is kind of fun_."

" **No it isn't.** "

" _Kind of._ "

Rouge echo located again.

" **Things feel wrong. Stop the ride, I want to get off.** "

"I stole that drink and I drank that drink. I did this to myself."

" **Oh** **this** **is exactly what I wanted,** " she retorted sarcastically.

She continued to echolocate. "Sound in my head feels right if I close my eyes." Rouge shut her eyes and removed all visual stimulus. "Ha, this is better. Beat the system." She walked further into some shorter brush. She used echolocation a lot to watch for trees in the semi open area. Vague colours and shapes swirled past her eyes in behind her pitch black lids.

Vines grabbed at her arms as the wind picked up and made noise. "This only works if you're quiet," she yelled. She clenched her arms around her body and waited for silence. When the wind died down she continued on.

" **I want to live. I need to find the village.** "

" _It's interesting to see my brain bend like this._ "

"We'll stick to alcohol, darling." Rouge caught her wording. "Me. I. Self. One." She felt herself be pushed on the shoulder. "Hey, rude. Whoever that was, I'm trying to go to town." Rouge walked on.

Only a short distance later. " **Where was I going?** "

Suddenly, vines picked up from the ground and pulled her forward. " _That's conveinent._ "

" **I may die either way, let's do this.** "

Rouge hugged onto the vines for her dear life. With her eyes shut, the vines quickly, but gently, swooshed her through the jungle and carried her to a place she recognized. With a graceful step down, she stood up again. "I recognize the lights of town. I can make it from here." She paused and looked at the filthy clothes she had on. She gripped them and couldn't tell where the fabric stopped and her fur or skin began. "Where do I go from here?"

A single vine waggled itself in the direction of a small fenced in area. She wandered towards it. Lights, trees and the road slowly shifted into one flat image again. Rouge took a knee and felt the ground. "I can't fall if I don't stand." With three limbs to the ground, and the fourth that held up the dress hem, Rouge crawled and followed the vine that wiggled on the ground. "If I follow you, I shouldn't forget what I was doing: I'm going to a safe place." She paused. "How did I get here?" The vine wiggled harder. "Okay, okay. Geez. You're worse than that bush I talked to earlier."

The gate closed behind her.

"We're going to leave her in there?" Shadow asked as he witnessed Sticks lure Rouge into a public garden with a vine, like a cat would follow a sting. He peered at them through the cracks in the fence.

Knuckles nodded. "You don't gotta worry about a thing. We've all had our own encounters with weird jungle substances; this is the 'freak out garden'. She'll have a journey all her own and come out doing fine."

Sonic, in his normal form, rolled his eyes. "At least we found her in the same day. You disappeared for a full twenty-four hours once."

"In my mind, I saved the pepper people of Klaggerhorn and curried peace between our people with chili. That's what matters," Knuckles proudly said.

Sonic stood in awe of Knuckles pun for a moment and then gave a chuckle.

"I'm not going to question it. As long as she's fine, that's all that matters."

"Good, because I have no way to explain it better than that." Knuckles wore a proud smile.

"How long do you think this will take?" Shadow asked.

Sticks spoke from beyond the fence. "Considering she was only supposed to drink a small, palm saized cup and _not_ half the bottle, I say tomorrow...aaaand possibly then some. She'll probably be fine by mornin, but not totally normal feeling till later on in the evening." She carefully guided Cat-Rouge around the small public garden, ensuring she steered clear of gardening equipment or dangerous plants, like cacti or aleo. Sticks used a large bush in a pot on wheels as a barricade and kept herself shrouded in vines to blen in.

"Have you decided on a plan of action?" Shadow asked Sonic.

He nodded. "We need to unfreeze her. I'll make a small list of quick things to ask. I doubt we'll have much time."

"You'll have a minute or two, if you're lucky."

Sonic nodded again. "I know Ames keeps a lot of her stuff hidden in a safe; if we could find that, this wouldn't be an issue; if its even an actual 'safe', I don't know that either. I just know she store info somewhere that I've never been able to find. It's definitely going to be one of the things I ask her about."

"Why don't we look for this safe instead? Save her the grief of being questioned in the throws of labour." Shadow suggested.

He shook his head a gave a half smile. "Trust me, if she wants something hidden, it's hidden. I've been with Amy for six years, I should know. "

"I say we take a look anyway. We have another half hour."

Sonic nodded. He brought everyone to his home who wasn't occupied.

Knuckles helped clear the furniture from one side of the living room so they could stack the papers safely out of the way. Knuckles, Sonic, Shadow, Tails and Cream all began the hunt for a hidden safe.

Ten minutes in and the power died again.

"That's not good," Tails said. "That rig I did should have lasted until morning, at least. I gotta go try again." Tails shrugged. "Sorry guys, I gotta get the grid up and running. I don't know what Eggman's doing, but we're overloading the circuts. We may need another crystal to power everything."

"Luckily we got a few gems lying around for just such an occasion. The Fergosi Sapphire chunks are in the vault at city hall. I'll message Fink to meet you out front with one. I think they're stying late today." He sent off the request to the Mayor.

"Is Cream okay to stay here?" he asked.

Sonic gave a thumbs up.

Tails left.

"My phone has a light, I can keep searching if you like," Cream said and took out her phone from her skirt pocket.

"Let's do it." The other three lit up their communicators.

Before Cream activated her torch function, she noticed a glow from across the room. "What's that?" She went in to examine it closer.

"Fergosi aside, since when do you have more energy crystals?" Shadow asked skeptically.

Sonic huffed as he strained to lift an extra large box of files. "Since a while ago, by now. You know, we haven't been sitting on our tails all these years. We've been getting stuff done."

"Stuff? Like what? I know there aren't that many gems left in the island and you aren't that slo-"

"-And!" Sonic continued with a proud stance and heightened voice, "In the last few years, I've mastered two new languages. I can now speak English, Gaelic, French and German fluently." He held up the sign language book he'd gotten from the library. "I'm skimming through this and I'm finding it kind of easy too. I was wondering if you or Hugh could teach me any sign language. I know you can do that whole," he poked his own head, "Programming thing. But I'm guessing that's a 'Black Arm Specific' talent."

"Correct." Shadow was surprised. "I don't know enough to teach. Hugh would have to teach you the old fashioned way."

"I'm down," Sonic said.

"Excuse me, I hate to interrupt you and Mr. Shadow, but you should come see this." Cream understood the situation that surrounded Amy, so her being frozen in time wasn't in issue. What preplexed her was the light that emitted from her face.

Sonic rounded the counter corner and looked for what Cream saw. "...where at?"

Cream walked forward and pointed her finger inches away from Amy' eye.

He knelt down and looked at Amy. A word written in small light emitting diaods on her sclear's screen could be seen. Sonic got closer and read through her eyelid, "'Unlocked'?"

Knuckles knelt down and peeped what Sonic and Cream peeped. "Woah, when did Ames get an eye implant? Can she shoot lasers?"

Sonic chuckled. "No, it's not a weapon. It happened a while ago, but she wasn't telling anyone for security reasons." Sonic sent Tails a message that read, ' _Can Amy store data with her eye?_ '

Moments later, a reply, ' _Yes, she just needs to unlock it. I have a spare dock at my workshop._ '

"Way to go Cream, I think you found the safe," he said with a wide grin.

At Eggman's lair, Tails once again hooked up the power to the city. He attached a second crystal, a shard of the power giving Fregosi sapphire, to power the grid.

Downstairs, Anne and Rolph consorted with the virus Nominatus while they cleaned up applesauce.

Regina slept soundly next to her husband in her stolen golden heart necklace. Snively in the gold chain his father died in.

Out back, a few teenagers attempted to break into one of the Iron Kingdom's airships. Xaun led the cause with Staci, BG and Chumley at his side.

In the deepest part of the lab, Orbot delivered his daily report to the large computer in control of doctor's surgery. Dr. Eggman laid motionless beneath dozens of robot limbs as they isntalled a complicated spinal system. Since Orbot was inorganic, he was able to enter the actual operating room.

Orbot fed a paper into the machine with the most buttons and lights, and a paper slot. "I'm glad to see your stats are nominal, because I don't have the best of news to report. So you know, sir, Snively and his wife are getting rather comfortable. They seem to be making themselves at home and they've ordered a few things on your behalf. A few mahagony pieces, and the like, for the hotel and guest services. The two new guests, Anne and Rolph, have cleaned out your food stores. We're going to have to go shopping tomorrow. I know how you perfer to do your own finances, so...I figured you'd want to know these things."

The doctor's laugh echoed from cyber space through a speaker. "Excellent. Noted. That'll be all, Cubot."

Cubot turned to leave. "Boss, I hate to nitpick, but, how much longer will this take? The computer hasn't been able to calculate the projection for the surgery's completion since the first blackout."

An eerie chuckle emitted from the speaker. "Don't worry about it."

"Should I do anything to curb the guest's demeanors?"

"No, let them be. I can see all of them, Cubot...leaching off of me, plotting against me, inflitrating my base and invading my privacy. Not to worry. I've got eyes everywhere, my friend. They'll all be dealt with in time."

Orbot was unnerved. "I-if you say so. But, if I may ask you then: When do you think this surgery will be finished?"

"Soon." More disturbing laughter poured from the speaker.

How giddy laughter managed to sound so evil was beyond Orbot's reasoning. "I'm glad to hear it, Boss." Orbot backed away casually and turned around when out the door. A short distane from the operating room, he called Amy. It rang and went to voicemail. "Hello, dear Amy, I want to confirm our coffee date for tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it. One in the afternoon, at Bonnie's Bistro and Beauty Buffet. See you then," he said and cut the line.

* * *

The plot thickens XD


	84. Chapter 84: Sorted

Next up. :D

* * *

 **-Chapter 84: Sorted-**

* * *

The sun dawned on Hedgehog Village's small public garden. Sticks and Rouge sat within. They got comfortable in an area with a wooden platform full of fluffy, flat pillows and an unused fire pit. They lounged after a long inward journey throughout the night. Rouge yawned and rubbed a sleepy eye. "Last thing I remember clearly was the sunset; now I get to watch the sunrise too. The end of my trip ends at the beginning of the day. How peaceful." She looked at her watch. "Half past five. I haven't pulled an all nighter since school."

"Sleep is for the weak," she said jokingly. Sticks rung a rag out over a bucket of water then handed it to Rouge. "It's the beginning of a _humid_ day. Make sure you drink lots of fluids to replace the ones you lost." She poured a drink from a nearby picture into a wooden cup that looked like a small tree stump.

Rouge blotted her face with the wet rag Sticks handed her. "Thank you again, dear. Who knows where I would have ended up."

"No prob. Luckily, you were only a few minutes outside of town." Sticks then handed Rouge another glass of water. "Sorry about nearly drowning you," she said with a lighthearted tone.

Rouge felt the damp spot on the front of her borrowed dress. Sticks told her she wasn't able to communicate effectively and had to pour water in her mouth to get her to drink anything. "All is forgiven. I hope all these dirt stains come out; I'd hate to ruin a pretty dress like this."

"I'm sure Ames'll buy another one when the To-Co store opens. She's got about a half dozen of them sparkley, drapey dresses now. I suppose it's more comfortable now that's she's all round and stuff." Sticks held her hands out to mimic the size of Amy's baby bump.

She laughed a bit at herself as she held the dress out some. "I could fit more in here, I suppose." She hesitated but spoke up again. "Shadow said my bad habits would catch up to me." She laid a hand over her chest. "Teleporting used to hurt, but now I don't even feel it. So, whatever he gave to me, it fixed whatever was wrong with my lungs. He said for me not to smoke anymore...I suppose that was for a good reason."

"Are you still gonna talk to him about the other night?"

Rouge drew a cleansing breath. "I have to. I can't keep working with him without clousure."

Rouge said her goodbyes and made her way back to Sonic's. She gave a meek knock, in case everyone was still asleep.

Shadow answered.

With an emotional collapse, Rouge hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry."

Several tears hit his shoulder. "It-it's alright Rouge." He hugged with sympathy, unsure of what she apologized for. "Though nothing bad happened to anyone, I want to suggest you forgo stealing things for a while."

She let go and shook her head. "Not for that, for the night of the luau. I...assaulted you."

Shadow was more confused than anything. "Let's sit down." He situated her in the living room. "What do you mean?"

"You..." She thought about her wording as she dried her face and composed herself. "Okay...nothing would have happened between us if I didn't force myself on you. You've never pursued me before, so why was that night any different? You weren't in your right state of mind. And then again, days later, in the shower. I didn't even give you a chance for you to say 'no' or contest my advance. I just took and didn't think much of it. And like last night, I...stole something I can't give back, and...I'm sorry, Shadow."

He nodded as he listened. "I understand what you're saying. I appreciate the gesture, but you didn't steal anything from me. Before the luau, you completed your mission without trying to escape at all. I felt if doing 'that' with me was something that made you happy, it was worth letting you have. As for the shower, right after we fell into that water in the temple, which eventually made you sick, again, I felt letting you have that sort of thing was reasonable."

She smiled with relief. "I get paid in sexual favours now? I can't say I'm complaining."

Shadow blushed. "And...I suppose there are other things we can do that won't lead to pregnancy. I hate to admit it, but I received some pointers from an unlikely source," he said and hooked a thumb at Sonic's door.

Rouge snickered. "I guess you can say the 'Blue Prick' is a 'dirty bird'?"

Shadow cracked his neck and laughed, "Rouge, please, don't rub it in." He kept his laughter near silent.

She waved a hand and brushed away the bad notion, "Sorry, sorry, my bad. I do have a question though. You must have known about your healing abilities all this time. If so, why were you okay with being with me a second time? I could have gotten pregnant, couldn't I?"

He shook his head. "It would have taken a few days to regrow your reproductive organs." He blushed harder. "Plus, the second time, I didn't...finish."

With a tilted head she said, "It sounded like you did."

Shadow looked away. "...I'm aware it sounded that way."

Her jaw dropped. "You faker!" she said with a laugh as Sonic entered his living room.

The werehogged Sonic scratched his head, "It's been a while since you've been called that, huh?"

Shadow folded his arms. "I assure you the context is different. Where are you going? You haven't transformed back."

Sonic tried to open the front door with a large hand. "Huh?" He looked at his form. In his half asleep state he didn't realize he wasn't a hedgehog. "That's no good. Amy's communicator went off." He yawned and spoke, "She's got a meeting with 'so-and-so' and something else, and stuff and things..." As he spoke, he slowly fell asleep against the door.

"...poor thing."

Shadow nodded. "Let him be, it's still early."

"Alright." Rouge saw Amy was moved to a rocking chair on the opposite side of the room. "Oh, what happened while I was out?"

"Since he was too stressed to go back to normal for very long, we figured talking with Amy would help. It didn't. Seeing the immense amount of pain she was in caused him to break down right after we froze her again," Shadow informed her with a huff. "We needed to unfreeze her anyway. Despite having access to Amy Rose's hidden archives, we didn't know where to start with it all. A lot was written in code. We have the codemaster now, at least," he said and looked over his shoulder to Sonic asleep on his front door, drooling slightly. "And we have instructions for the next few weeks...but its definitely taken a tole on him."

"He's a tough cookie. He'll bounce back."

Shadow looked incredulous. "I think you may be giving him more credit that warranted. I heard him crying in his sleep last night."

Rouge clicked her tongue. "He's heartbroken, don't hold it against him. His family is frozen in time, he's sad. I wouldn't read into it too much."

He shook his head again and slid Amy's binder toward her. "This has apparently been going on for a while now. Since his trip to the temple, Amy's recorded all the times it's happened."

Rouge looked at the dates marked. "...at least a few times a week. What does that mean? Can people even cry in their sleep?" She heard a gentle sob from the front door. "..."

"Amy's noted that his sleep was disturbed ever since they returned from the main continent, which is why she started to use chaos control to get things done. His tossing and turning was keeping her awake. It's also why she's been encouraging him to relax so often. Her notes state she thinks Sonic has the beginnings of PTSD; judging from his form right now, I'm apt to say she may be right."

"He's been in fights before, why would the injury from the temple be different?"

Shadow blushed as he looked at his feet. "I didn't mention this, for obious reasons, but I had to give him CPR to revive him. He nearly died."

"Ooooh." Rouge got a glimpse of the whole picture. "And he's got a phobia of water, if I remember correctly."

Shadow nodded deeply. "Exaclty. All of these situations have built up and finally made him snap."

Rouge got up and gently woke Sonic. "Darling, were you dreaming?"

Sonic stood up and got his bearrings. "Oh, crap, fell asleep stanging up." He felt Rouge's hands. They touched his face and wiped his cheeks. "Dreaming? What now? I don't remember."

"You were crying," she said and showed that her palms had drying tears on them.

He looked at her with a bewildered expression. "I was asleep, I wasn't crying...was I?" He felt his ceeks were damp.

"Yes...last night too. Sonic, dear, if something's bothering you, please speak up. I know a lot's happening right now, so don't let it get you bogged down."

"Sonic," Shadow said.

He paid attention to the one who actually said his name wihtout contempt. "W-what?"

Shadow came a few steps closer to them. "Let us do whatever it is you need done today. Take the day off."

Sonic held up the arm he wore his communicator on. "Unblock me and I'll send you a list."

"You're unblocked already. Sorry I forgot to do so sooner; we could have avoided a lot of hassle."

Sonic sent him what he needed to. "I'm gonna go swing around the jungle. Maybe that'll help with this." He referrenced his large form. "And then I can came home and fix this," he said and referrenced his beard and gave it a tug.

Shadow spoke up again, "I'm also sorry about insulting you. The beard looks fine, it makes you look refined."

Sonic laughed a bit. "Now you're being nice to me? Geez, I must look like a wreck." He opened the door and started to leave. "But, still, thank you, that means a lot." He closed the door behind him. With a single stretched arm, he swung out of sight.

Rouge stood there in awe.

"What?"

She smirked. "Were you kissing ass or cheering him up?"

Shadow huffed, "Yes."

"I thought so. Good on you, either way, darling." She walked over to Amy who sat expressionless and calm, eyes closed, frozen in a brand new gliding rocking chair. She looked at the tag that hung from the arm and read the price aloud. "Eighty dollars? That's really good for this kind of chair." She looked at Amy's eyes. She saw the scar on her left eye lid covered by a bit of makeup. It looked jagged. "I suppose she didn't get this done intentionally. It looks like an accident took the eye."

Shadow had finished his skim of the days tasks. "Probably. I would like to know how it happened exactly."

"You remember the tale that follows the loss of her eye, don't you? It's rather epic."

Shadow looked skeptical. "Being chased by Duchad's pirates through uncharted jungle on a motorcycle is kind of hard to believe."

"Stranger things have happened." She stood up straight. "Alright, Major Shadow, Sir, what's the mission today?" She stood at attention.

He laughed. "Are you looking to get paid today?"

She gave him a cheeky grin, "Oh no, darling, just a tip," she said with a wink.

Shadow grined in return. "We'll see. Let's get started on this and then we can work something out." He sent her the information for the next couple weeks.

Rouge held up the dress she borrowed and dirtied. "Are my clothes here?"

Shadow pointed to a pile of folded and clean clothing.

She showered, changed and they left to get Amy Rose's day started, in her place.

Back at Eggman's lair, Sonic pulled the front doors open. "Eggman! You've got explaining to do!" As he walked down the hall a new, teardrop shaped, robot doorman attempted to stop him. Sonic punched the white robot with a glowing circle into the wall and shattered it. "EGgmAN! WhERe are yOu!?" His voice cracked as his size increased. His legs shifted into digitgrade and he took to all fours. His muzzle and tail lengthened. His teeth grew longer and sharper. His eyes glowed a vibrant green. "I WanT anSWers! NOW!" He let out a roar and with razor sharp claws, swiped at the large chair doctor Eggman usually sat in. It flew across the room in five clean cut piece.

Guard robots, similar to the one at the entrance, swarmed into the room by the dozens. ' _Terminate threat,_ ' a voice that sound like Eggaman came over the intercom.

"EGGMAAAN!" Sonic bellowed.

Sirines blared and red lights spun around in circles on the ceiling. Lazers flew every which way. The raging werehog batted the swarm of bots away like flies. He avoided their shots with carefully times flips and bounded off the walls down the connecting hallway.

The intercom sounded again. ' _Class A intrusion. Security measure activated._ ' Each door shut and sealed itself.

The angry werehog sliced through the heavy metal door at the end of the hall with ease. He ignored the alert and continued deeper into the base. The guard sentries followed.

Sonic hunted a traitor.


	85. Chapter 85: Out, Out

Now it gets juicy. ;D

I struggled with the name of this chapter, and then THIS came to mind and it fit all too well, provided you know the full quote. ^o^

* * *

 **-Chapter 85: Out, Out-**

* * *

Sonic left destruction in his path. Each robot, piece of furniture or obsticle, received the same claws or jaws. Bots fell and flew left and right. The floors and walls were gashed deeply. Lazer turrets from the ceiling did their best to land a few hits. Nothing could stop the tyraid the blue werehog was on.

"EGGMAN!" he shouted as though it were his only purpose in life. "DOCTOR EGGMAN! FACE ME!" With a powerful bite, he took out a titanium beam that blocked the next door on his path. Unblocked now, he forced the door open with his bare hands.

Anne became frustrated with the noise and tracked Sonic down. Rolph stayed close behind her. "Enough!" She stood at the end of the hallway Sonic busted into. All firing ceased when the bots noticed Anne nearby. "I'm trying to put the baby to sleep!" she shouted to the werehog with a bundle clutched tightly in her arms.

It took Nominatus a moment to recognize Sonic from within his swadling blanket. "Is that Sonic?"

Sonic spotted him right away. His eyes flared a brighter green. He spat the barricade bar to the side and snarled, "NOMINATUS!" He lowered to all fours again and prowled toward the tiny terror.

"Uh-oh," the virus said and tried to snuggle down into Anne's arms further.

Anne safely handed Nominatus off to Rolph. "Hold my baby!" She launched forward with speed comperable to both Shadow and Sonic. Her tail shot out in defense.

Sonic dodged quickly but her barb still grazed his arm. It was enough of a hit. His limb began to go numb.

Anne saw he flinched. "I got you, didn't I? I felt it connect. How about one more?" She bounded toward Sonic a second time. She hit the same arm in the meaty part of his upper right shoulder before she was swat away.

"You're really fast." Sonic backed up. A bit of drool and blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. He had several burns from where the bots successfully landed a lazer. They healed over entirely and were nearly invisible, aside from singed fur.

"I'm good now. Thanks everyone." Anne watched as the bots slowly vacated the area. She turned back to Sonic. "Such nice people. Why can't you be nice like them?"

He kept his guard up but it faded fast. "Grrr..." The numbness spread to his leg. He took a knee.

"You're like Hugh, aren't you? All angry." She slowly walked toward him with her hands up. "I think I can fix this, if you let me," she said and readied her scorpian like tail with the right 'stuff'.

Sonic felt his drugged shoulder with his unaffected hand. It spread quickly and half his head succumbed to her sting. "Keep your venom to y'rself-" He slurred with a half numb face.

Anne rolled her eyes as she circled around him and gained a better angle. "It was a muscle relaxer, not venom, so you know. I can make caffiene with this thing too." She lunged at him and stuck him in the neck with a limbering drug.

Sonic didn't react fast enough. He attempted to jump back but ran into four seamless, lenticular, knee high, cylindrical robots, all white in colour. Four thin arms with clawed ends, shot out from their tops. Each bot procured a werehog limb and held him up off the floor. They turned him upright for Anne to speak with, face to face.

"Thanks, boys, and girl," she said to the bots. "Much easier." Anne approached him and examined his slack face. She grabbed his upper and lower lips and opened his mouth. "...only one row of teeth? You aren't one of us then. Who did this to you?" She sniffed his fur. "You were in the ocean, weren't you?"

"Nom-mini-natal," Sonic mocked the virus and attempted to lift a very heavy hand. The arms of the robots stopped him from going far.

Nominatus rolled his eyes. "Jerk. You know that stupid fox made it so I'm this small!"

Anne plunged her barb directly over his heart and injected him one final time with an antidote, and a little something extra. "There, something to calm you down. You can all release him," she said and the four bots complied. They put Sonic on his feet. "How do you feel?"

His large frame wavered heavily. Suddenly, he shrunk to normal size and said, "I feel...light," before he fell flat on his face on the floor. "Wait...no I don't...ooooooww." He was out cold.

"Why didn't you catch him?" Rolph asked. "That's Ultimate's buddy, isn't it?"

"Don't care, I didn't feel like it. Look at the mess he left in here." A light fixture finally gave out and clattered against the metal floor behind them. Rolph jumped. Anne knelt down by the intruder. "I'll have to tell your friends that you need to stay out of the water on really hot days. The currents around here have this nasty triggering substance for your type in them."

"This isn't good," Nominatus said and jumped from Rolph's arms. "Sonic knows I'm still alive now. This is going to ruin all our plans."

Anne shook her head. "No it won't. His last few hours should be pretty hazy." She looked over her shoulder. She saw Rolph stood back a several feet. "What's your damage?"

Rolph shook his head. "I don't like the blue hedgehog's transformed state. He's too damn scary."

"Pff, he's not even as big as Hugh. Though, he is pretty fast for a guy his size," she said as she used her tail to pick Sonic up under his arms. "Oh, wow, you're really light compared to 'Ultimate'."

Rolph shook his head quicker. "Hugh's eyes don't glow, sis." He pointed at sonic's face. "And this guy's clearly not in control."

She shrugged. "No matter, he's out like a light and soon to be their problem. Let's get him out of here."

The twins brought the blue blur upstairs, unconcious and slightly banged up. The rest of Team Sonic, Shadow and Rouge, had already made it to the lobby. They stood in awe of the carnage.

"There he is!" Tails said and flew to his friend's side.

"Don't worry, he's only knocked out...and chilled out. He'll be fine in a few hours." Anne carefully carried and cradled Sonic in her semi coiled tail. She slid him into Knuckles arms. "You should know, this island gets weird weather because there's a strong underground current near a specific volcano, or, something like that. Anyway, the current contains a lot of a mineral that causes the 'angry transformation'. I'm assuming he's got two forms because of...this...," Anne grabbed and tugged his beard with her tail.

"That's correct. Thank you, Anne. This is really useful information," Tails said. "He probably came over here to talk calmly, but the water triggered this other form."

"In that case, let's get you out of here before you want conversate anymore," Knuckles said and left the desolate lair.

"Nom-nnnatalll," Sonic blurbed out incoherently from halfway down the hall.

Anne agreed with a nervous nod. "Yeah, good idea. Being in that form automatically makes you rage like a nut case; so if he was a bit unhappy before, dousing himself in sea water and showing up here to 'settle a score', from the sounds of it, was a bad idea."

"Noted," Tails recorded the information on his communicator and sent it to his server for safe keeping.

"I hope this earns us some fuckin' brownie points," Rolph folded his arms in frustration. "Couldda' ran, but we didn't..."

"Of course it does," Shadow said blankly as he peered into the ravaged corridoor. A piece of a door frame hit the ground behind them. It startled him and Rolph.

Anne huffed. "Good. Now if you'll all excuse me, I have some movies to catch up on," she said and turned to the television and couch. She realized in that moment, Sonic had turned both objects into ribbons. She picked up a few pieces in her hands. "...anyone have glue?"

A few white, teardrop shaped robots began their clean up of the lair. They hovered around and took the pieces from Anne. Each piece was tossed onto a floating platform of other broken shards of lair. They carried on.

"I have an idea." Tails offered a solution. "My pad is equipped with a big viewing screen if you want to watch movies. Besides, it's your second day in the village, we might as well show you around town." He held up the new necklace that had finished printing the night previous. "Gotta forgive us, but it'll take more than a day to win us all over."

She shrugged and began to leave in the same direction as Knuckles. "Whatever." They all turned to leave.

Rouge folded her ears down. She blocked the noise of the clean up crew. "Best we let them tidy up in here, darling; all that welding and grinding is bad for my hearing-uh?" Rouge said to Shadow who stood frozen in place. "Something the matter?"

Shadow nodded. "If I piss him off too badly...he'll destroy me, Rouge. The Sonic I know would have never been capable of something like this," he said and referred to the gashed metal flooring and walls. "Even I can't bust through metal like this without the use of chaos magic."

Rouge saw claw and teeth marks all over the debris of plated metal. "Is it possible Sonic has a chaos emerald?"

Shadow nodded. "He possess the green emerald; and if this form is angry enough, it could use the chaos emerald's magic to power him up fully...and..." He held a hand up to the claw marks. Each finger was spaced too far apart for him to reach his own hand over. "I'm serious when I say I'm worried about this form. It's too powerful for me to beat; especially if I'm caught off guard."

Rouge looked skeptical. "Are you sure? What about without your rings on? That's a terror to behold."

Shadow touched an inhibitor ring. "Possibly, but for me to go so far, I may be lost to the Black Arm completely. "

Sparks flew in the background and drones buzzed about the mess.

Shadow swalloed a lump in his throat. "I'll see if Hugh knows anything helpful." Shadow shut his eyes and concentrated. He reached out to Hugh via the hivemind link they alloted for communication with one another. ' _Hugh? I have a slight problem. I need your advice._ '

' _Sure. What's the matter?_ '

' _We've gotten a glimpse of Sonic's second were'form and it's wild and uncontrollable. We need some insight on what type it is so we can figure out a way to curb the transformation. Judging from Amy's notes, there's a few forms with digitgrade legs, like yours. That's all we know._ '

' _There are three types with legs like that. Tell me, did he go into the ocean recently?_ '

Rouge waited patiently as Shadow finished his conversation with Hugh. She aimlessly played with the bracelette Eggman had gifted her and Shadow to open the front doors with.

When they were done, he looked over to Rouge. "We have reading to do. Let's head back to Sonic and Amy's." He caught a glimpse of red and yellow out of the corner of his eye. "That's right." He turned to the two cowering robots. "Orbot, Cubot...you two should come with us."

The two bots gave eachother a look of 'should we?', but decided they 'shall'.

The four flew to the house and hunted for more information amidst the throngs of paperwork.

Back at the lair, things picked up quickly. Each teardrop robot liquified itself and fell to the floor. All the debris collected into the mobile silver goop and became one with it. Soon after, each piece of furniture was spat out in it's original location as though nothing had happened. The liquid seeped into the gashes and cracks of the werehog's claw marks. The walls and floors reformed with no scar tissue left behind.

Within minues, the lab was brand new. Each piece looked as good as the day it was created.

The hallway doors opened and revealed a fully dressed, properly postured Dr. Eggman. He smirked from ear to ear. "Good as new," he said and fixed his pince-nez glasses over his deep blue eyes. He noticed a smudge. "There's some shmutz on the lense. Fix that, would you?"

One of the white robots reformed from it's liquid state and flew to Eggman. It extended a single thin arm and absorbed the glasses into it's being. The glasses reemerged on the opposite side, cleaned and shined.

"Much better." He replaced the glasses and took a seat in his big chair. He spun around and faced the console. "I've got some catching up to do," he said and got to work. He opened the audio files that Shadow and Rouge's bracelets picked up. "They open the door to my lair and into your personal lives." He cackled and slapped a knee.

Eggman's watch went off with a reminder. "Ooh, and Mina's concert is only a couple weeks away! She's so sassy, I love her to bits. Everything's coming up 'Eggman!'." He spun arounf in pre-victory celebration. With a wicked grin, he played with a tuft of mustache as he lost momentum to his spin. "It's going to be one killer concert." The dozen teardrop robots reformed and hovered behind their master. They awaited their next order.

* * *

Teehee XD


	86. Chapter 86: Delegation

Holy shitsnacks, sorry this took so long. DX

I have three chapters written and nearly finished being edited, but I've been working and busting my ass so I've been too exhausted to get stuff done at home. I also still have a POS computer and still have to upload this to a phone and spellcheck here...kill me now, please x.x

Forgive the possible slew of bad grammar and typos. If theres anything too glaring Ill fix it, but for now, patience is key. :)

I'll get the next two up within a couple days, no more of this long wait nonsence.

Thanks for sticking with me. ;D

* * *

- **Chapter 86: Delegation-**

* * *

Sonic sat on his couch across from Shadow, Rouge and Eggman's two lackey bots. Finally clear headded, he attempted a recount of the events. "I woke up...you and Rouge offered to do stuff for us today..." He struggled with remembering. "...I thought a bit of exercise would help...it was humid so I went to the delta and that's all." Sonic winced at any amount of movement his jaw made. He held the right side of his face. "I think I chipped a tooth. How bad was the place busted up?"

Shadow looked at the two robots who were present during the attack. They hovered closer to Sonic as Shadow began the explaination. "You tore through Eggman's lair like it was tissue paper."

Using their internal cameras, Orbot and Cubot each produced a few flat hologramd of the invasion through the lense of their eyes. Cubot only had still images of the incident, while Orbot managed to get a brief video of Sonic doing acrobatics to avoid lazers. Cubot showed one final picture of Sonic with his eyes glowing a vibrant emerald green. A guard beam was bent and clenched between his teeth.

Sonic's expresion went blank as he absorbed the magnitude of the damage he'd caused. "I hope his insurance covers werehog attacks." He looked Amy's way.

Orbot shrugged, "I'll have to check." They took their seats again.

He continued. "If you go into the ocean on days the current is coming from the direction of the volcano, then you'll turn into this second form. There's a mineral that comes from the lava and surrounding biome that triggers it, " Shadow explained.

Sonic gave a half smile as he played up a chill demeanor. "No arugments there. I got no problem staying out of the ocean."

Shadow folded his arms. "Then what of the waxing moon? You experience different forms during the cycling moon phases," he said and got up. He rooted through a box of semi damaged papers. "We need more information on this-" Shadow noticed how Sonic kept looking Amy's way as they spoke. "You should head to Tails house for the day while we sift through all this. I'm sure he'll need help if the twins get out of hand."

Sonic gave it some thought. "Being stuck inside all day with Amy and not being able to talk to her does seem kind of...difficult. The heat won't bother her, will it?"

Shadow shook his head. "Not at all."

"Finally, a bit of good news. I guess I'll go see what Tails is up to. Later," Sonic said and took his leave.

Rouge watched him sprint off. "I'm glad to see he's calmed down a bit," Rouge planted a fist on her hip as she looked at all the reading she needed to do. "At least I don't need glasses or contacts anymore." Rouge thought about it and laid a hand on her chest. She took a breath. "Something I noticed...teleporting doesn't bother me anymore. It had for years and now...I'm fine."

"You had the early stages of emphasema," he said and glazed over a paper too damaged to read much of.

"At my age?" she sounded put off.

"You had weak lungs." He looked up from his reading. "I stress the word 'had'."

Rouge blushed as she acknowledged how that happened. She opened the first series of stapled papers and then took a seat across from him on the couch. A few moments of silence passed by until Rouge finally broke them again. "Is that why you quit smoking? For me?"

He nodded.

She smiled warmly. "Don't you get cravings every now and then?"

He shook his head. "I enjoyed them, I was never addicted to them."

"Lucky. Even now, I want one..." Rouge took her seat and began to read.

Across town, seconds later, Sonic arrived at Tails house in time to witness the big movie collection reveal with Anne and Rolph. Tails announced, "I give you: Variety." With the press of a single button on his back wall, two shelves, with five levels each, lowered from the ceiling. Anne and Rolph stood in awe of the collection. "There's over two hundred titles to choose from. Have at them."

The twins shared a glance. They approached and read titles to themselves on opposite shelves.

"If you want to know what a movie's about, here's a catalogue I got from Mina," he said and handed Anne a tablet loaded with movie descriptions. "It's a touchscreen." Tails stood back with Sonic. They watched Anne and Rolph bicker quietly over his massive collection. "They fight like kids sometimes," he said a little quieter than normal.

Sonic nodded. "Makes sense. Before Amy was frozen, she found out a little about them. Turns out they're only a few years old, save for the time they spent underground."

Tails eyes widened. "Seriously? I suppose aging works differently for the Black Arm. Shadow still looks as he did when we first met him, and he's pushing seventy-five."

Sonic scoffed, "He's pretty spry for a pensioner."

He laughed warmly at the thought of an 'old Shadow'. "At least you two are getting along. Being in the military usually hardens people up, but it's had the opposite effect on Shadow."

Sonic shook his head and glance off to the side. "If he's under specific orders to get along with the team, that would make more sense." He recalled how Shadow and Rouge responded to Amy with a salute.

Tails nodded, "Possibly. Though the look on his face when he saw what you did to Eggman's lair says a lot, too. I think this new form of yours might have him on edge. You _literally_ tore through steel with your bare hands and teeth."

Sonic held the right side of his jaw again. "I believe it; I cracked a tooth on something. I guess bones don't get healed as a werehog."

Tails gave it some thought with half folded arms and a finger tapping his chin. "That may not be the case. You were hit quite a few times by the lazers, but you have no scarring from them."

Sonic turned and looked at the large scar on his back as best he could. "True, but this is still here," he said and held up his right arm. He unraveled some of his new sports tape and viewed the smaller scar on his arm. It had a small circular piece had healed and was regular flesh again. "Whaaaaa?"

Tails lit up. "That's another clue to what form you have. You can't heal existing scar tissue, but your second form can heal any wounds it receives during the transformation." He got a bright idea. "Turn around." Tails examined his friend's scarred back. "As I suspected. Look at this." He took a picture with his communicator, then brought it around. He showed Sonic. "See, another two spots where lazers hit you."

Sonic was dumbfounded. "I wonder if this tooth would have healed if I stayed in that form longer," he said and winced again from the pain of his split molar. "Huh, mixed bag here. Do I want to turn into a hulking wolf and potentially tear anyone who's ever wronged me to shreads, to fix this tooth...or do I want to go to a dentist?" He pondered and stroaked his beard.

"I think that answer should be pretty easy..." Tails narrowed his eyes at his still-thinking friend.

Sonic noticed the glare, "Heh-heh, only kidding. I'll call the dentist tomorrow."

"Why not now?" Tails shrugged.

"I'm holding out hope that when I turn into the first form tonight, it'll fix this. I know that form can heal wounds that happen when I'm like this." He said and presented his hedgehog self with two open arms. "If magic doesn't work, it's back to good ol' science."

Rolph abandoned his sister to pick a title on her own. "I was wonderin," he said with his scratchy voice. As he came out from in between the shelves he folded his arms. "How do you know our brother?"

"Hmm" Sonic turned to face him.

"I'm askin' because you don't seem the kind of folks he'd be friends with. No offense, you're kind of...a weiner."

Sonic's mouth dropped open while Tails held in a snicker.

"Like I said, no offense, I'm sure the people in your life feel otherwise. You don't seem to be the type he'd keep as company, is what U'm saying," Rolph rolled his eye and held a cocky stance.

Sonic sighed. He was tired of being angry for the day so he blandly said, "You know about my other form and still you talk to me like that?"

Rolph rolled his eye again, "Yeah, I am. You said to him that we're still kids. What, you gonna beat up kids? Kind of crule thing to do, don't you think?"

He sighed, "You aren't kids. You're just-"

"What?! Retarded?!" Rolph snapped. "You think because we were locked down in that grave that we're slow in the head, or something?"

Sonic held up his hands, "That's not what I meant. You haven't had any opportunties to grow yet-"

"That's what retarded means!" Rolph gritted his teeth and squinted both his eyes shut, "You couldn't fathom the height of my IQ you simpilton." His single left eye opened again and glared at the blue blur. "You think that we're immature because we like dolls, watch movies or eat icecream for supper! Being smart is boring."

"That's not-" he tried to speak again.

"NO! You've known us for one god damn day! You don't have any right saying that we're 'still kids' or make comments on our intelligence or 'life experiences'."

Sonic let his arms fall at his sides. "I...don't know what to say. I'm sorry, Rolph. I didn't mean to offend you."

"Well, you did. Yer an ass..." He walked back to his sister and continued to look through titles.

Sonic and Tails exchanged a look of regret and kept quiet.

Moments later. "Ah, come on, sis! Those all sound like horror movies," Rolph threw his hands up in the air.

She huffed. "I'm not in the mood for romance or comedy. I'm angry, I want to watch something that reflects that," she said and held five movie cases in her hands. "Bloodguzzler one through four and Bloodguzzler: The Reconing, all sound like they fit my mood perfectly."

Before Rolph launched another complaint, Sonic interjected, "I have an idea. Why don't we watch something we can all agree on first. After that, I'll take Rolph to the bar in town and you can watch all the spooky stuff you want."

Rolph looked impressed, "I'm alright with that."

Anne looked bummed, "I'm not sure what I want to watch, other than this..." she said and held up the movies.

Tails offered up an idea, "Does it have to be a work of fiction? Can it be non-fiction?"

Anne raised an eyebrow, "Like, a documentary or something? Ew."

Tails chuckled. "Not quite. It's an interview with a popular musician who's going to have a concert on the island in a couple weeks. Her name is Mina Mongoose."

Sonic brightened up. "Ah, right. Amy's been telling me I need to watch it. I missed watching the night it aired because that was the same night Hugh showed up at our door." He recalled the disgruntled werehog that spat a dislodged hedge through his and Amy's living room window.

"Sure thing. I'll get it set up right away," Tails said and hit the same button to expand the shelves to once again retract them. He tossed popcorn in the microwave for snacks and they all sat down to watch Mina's interview.

* * *

Okay, next chapter is on its way soon. Peace out :D


	87. Chapter 87: Mina's Interview

See, soon, bam XD

* * *

- **Chapter 87: Mina's Interview** -

* * *

 **Sonic, Tails, Anne and Rolph sat back on the couch. Tails dimmed the lights with his wrist communicator and hit 'play' at the same time. The large projection screen lit up and quickly loaded the video.**

 **"I thought you guys were watching movies this whole time," Sonic asked as he was handed one of two popcorn bowls.**

 **"We got distracted by video games," Tails admitted then shoved a handful of popped corn into his mouth.**

 **Sonic rolled his eyes with a hearty chuckle, "Classic Tails."**

 _On screen, Comedy Chimp's band finished their intro music. The man himself, Comedy Chimp, took a seat behind his trendy mahogany desk as the crowd cheered. "The CC Players, everyone," he said and applauded his staff. "Why stop the music there? You've all seen her on social media fighting for love, equality and social change, now she's here at our very own doorstep; give it up for Mina Mongoose and the Knothole Knuts!"_

 _The crowd roared with anticipation as left stage lit up with Mina and the rest of her band. There was Max the monkey, their lead guitarist with his elastic fingers. Sharps the chicken, bringing up the big bad bass. And their drummer with the sickest of beats, Mach the rabbit. Their new hit single 'Era One Over Here' boomed over the loud speakers._

 **"She's really talented," Anne's eyes sparkled.**

 **"Music is so different now-a-days," Rolph remarked.**

 **Anne nodded quickly. "I want to hear everything she's ever written. I want to own things she's touched. I NEED to go to this concert you mentioned." Anne seethed with excitement.**

 **"Shh," Rolph shushed.**

 **"Oop, right." She focused again.**

 _When the song was over, "What a performance, folks." CC clapped and nodded in approval._

 _The crowd barely contained themselves as Mina took her seat next to the host. She blushed a bit as she waved for the people._

 _"You've got quite the following." CC shook her hand and then lounged back in his chair, elbows propped up on its cushioned rests, fingers delicately folded into a triangle formation at the tips._

 _"We do command a presence, don't we," Mina waved to her band as they picked up their gear and exited the stage._

 _Comedy Chimp clasped all but two fingers and used them as a pointer at Mina. "What brings a bright and shining star to our neck of the woods?"_

 _"I actually came here to help with the conservation effort originally, but then I found out there's a lot more going on behind the scenes."_

 _"Oh, how so?" CC leaned forward on his desk._

 _"After I started talking to more of the towns folk, I realized that you have so many queer individuals who feel put out."_

 _He raised his eyebrows. "You're not saying they're being discrimniated against, are you?"_

 _Mina shook her head quickly. "Hardly. All I'm saying is they feel like they lack representation."_

 _"Feeling represented is important, my divorce lawyer can vouch for that," the audience chuckled. "Eh-heh, yeah, ahem-how does one go about getting adequate representarion?"_

 _She gave a cheeky look to the camera. "For starters, with a few donations and my own contributions, we opened up a nude beach on the ease side. There's a new bakery and skewer place opening soon to go with the existing tiki bar."_

 **"Are you serious?!" Rolph poined a finger across the group to Sonic. "Take me to the nude beach with the bar and you're no longer an ass in my books."**

 **"Deal," Sonic said with a nod.**

 **"Shh," Anne shushed them.**

 _The crowd cheered and cat called with excitement._

 _"It's been a big hit, as you can see."_

 _Mina laughed, "Heh, love to hear it. The point of the beach was to act a an open and guilt-free, free-space for adults. I don't want to take credit for all of it though. Wildcat and Wolfie were the lovely couple who originally brought up the idea." Mina spotted the two in the crowd, front and centre. "There you two are. A round of applause for twelve years of bliss." Mina joined the crowd in clapping._

 _The camera swung around to face them. Wolfie gave his partner a peck on the cheek, to which Wildcat held the 'pecked' spot and blushed from all the attention._

 _"Hete's how it went down," Mina began the story of how she met Wildcat through an online chat forum and initially found out about the island._

 **"Told you love was in the air." Tails mentioned to Sonic.**

 **"I never knew," Sonic said and shook his head. "I'm getting better at not being 'hetero-normative though. Had a chat with a couple people, learned some stuff, it was an eye opener."**

 **"That's awesome," Tails replied.**

 **"Shh," the twins shushed them.**

 **Everyone sat still for the rest of the interview.**

 _Mina finished her brief story of how she met Wildcat and Wolfie. "It was as simple as that, Wildcat had me hooked and I totally had to come and see this place for myself." She went on. "Which is what birthed my second reason for coming here: The estetic of the island itself. My next album has a very 'tropical vibe'. I've only been here for short while and I've already gotten tons of inspiration. I've also got a couple good friends who helped with the concert swag. All repurposed materials, I might add."_

 _The croud murrmurred thoughtfully._

 _"A tropical vibe? You've definitely come to the right place. Why tropical though? I thought you were a city girl."_

 _She nodded. "That's true. I've always viewed a 'tropical setting' as an escape._ _I know my first couple albums were all fun and 'pop'y, my_ _most recent was my 'coming out' album, now this one is really going to dig deep. I'm_ _going to tackle some real issues."_

 _"Deep? Go on."_

 _"I'm 'Mina Mongoose the preformer', no one really gets to see me as a normal person. I struggle with depression and addiction on a daily basis."_

 _"Depression? Addiction? I never would have guessed."_

 _"I know. Most people don't. Silence can be deffening. That's why I'm dedicating my next album to people who've been through those kind of struggles or who may be going through them right now. I want to show them that there is an escape from it all, you just got to stay strong. I know I say that like it's so easy, but it's not. You need a good support group because it's super hard to do these things on your own. Not that they can't be done, but feeling loved and supported from all sides really helps."_

 _"Profound words, miss Mina."_

 _She blushed, "Thanks."_

 _"I hate to pry, but are you comfortable talking about your depression?"_

 _"Totally."_

 _"What exactly, if you can say, causes your deppression."_

 _Mina gave herself a moment to think. "To be honest, it's a lot of things, not a 'single' thing causes it. I overwhelm myself with tasks and beat myself up when I can't complete them. I think that's the biggest issue I have. Other than that, it's a conceptual thing, as in, I can't fix everything therefore I feel helpless."_

 _"Is that why you go out of your way to always help others so often?"_

 _"Yeah. For sure."_

 _"What about addiction? Can you tell us more about that?"_

 _Mina nodded deeply. "As a preformer, people expect me to be fun, like, all the time. I found myself drinking more and more to try and keep up with all the 'fun' people wanted me to have. By the time I realized it, I was drinking almost every day, and I couldn't stop. I never pictured myself as an alcoholic, it really crept up on me. I always told myself 'oh, I'm doing it for fun, I can stop whenever," Mina said and leaned forward with a hand on CC's desk, "But then I couldn't."_

 _"That's harsh."_

 _Mina sat back. "Indeed. Growing up I was always a 'straight laced' kinda girl. Never missed cerfew, always did my homework and was an all around 'goodie-goodie'. When it came time to be not so 'goodie' anymore, I had no grasp of moderation. I spiraled. One night I passed out with the stove on and nearly burnt my tour van down. Luckily I had friends around me to turn off the stove and literally save my life. It was a big wake up call."_

 _"That's putting it lightly."_

 _"Mmm-hmm," she said with a nod. "After I had that happen, I started seeing a therapist regularily. That's when the question of my sexuality came up. I realized another thing that was a trigger for my drinking was my repressed sexuality. My folks weren't really on board with me being 'not straight'. We've mended fences by now, but in the beginning, it was rough."_

 _"In what way?"_

 _"My parents are well to do and quite religious. A picture of me from back in high school circulated a couple years into my career and...it was a picture of me kissing another girl. They were not pleased. It basically came down to 'you're either straight or we aren't funding your tours anymore'."_

 _"What?!" CC and the crowd were equally shocked._

 _Mina nodded, "Yep. So they did...and look at me now." The crowd gave a round of encouraging words and a round of applause. "Like I said, we're all good now, and they've learned that you can't control who you love, and all love is beautiful."_

 _"So true."_

 _"All that aside, I've come a long way since starting my counseling sessions."_

 _"We're all proud of you, Mina." The audience cheered harder._

 _"Aww, thanks everyone, your support goes a long way. Remember this: You don't know how sick you are until you're better. Never be afraid to ask for help."_

After a few more hard hitting questions about her tour and her next move, Mina and the Knothole Nuts closed with their new single 'Bend in the Bottle'. The recording terminated and the projection screen went blank and idle.

"Pretty intense, huh?" Tails said and got up and stretched. He looked back to the other three who were unusually quiet. "Uh, you guys okay?"

Sonic made eye contact with his best friend and said, "I actually don't think I am."

"I used to drink a lot in the lab...among other things," Anne said with a brief glance at her tail tip.

"Yeah, and I stole drugs for us all the time..." Rolph followed up.

Sonic looked at the twins. "Everytime I drink...I'm bad at it, but I keep doing it."

Tails was at a loss for words.

Sonic stood up and took a cleansing breath. "I think escapsim isn't going to help us now. No bars. No movies. No nothing like that...how about group therapy? I know they have a 'crisis doctor' on call, twenty-four seven."

Anne and Rolph exchanged a nod. "Okay," they said.

Tails rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, "I'm sorry everyone. I didn't mean to upset you all."

Sonic gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't apologize for helping. I've been pretty low energy lately, it was only a matter of time before it came to this." He folded his arms and felt remis about asking, but did so anyway, "Quick question...have you ever heard me crying in my sleep before?"

Tails thought back, "Not that I can recall."

"Apparently, Shadow and Rouge heard me this morning and brought it to my attention. I looked it up on the way here and it _is_ a sign of depression. I have been going through a lot in the past little while."

Tails absorbed his friend's concerns. "Add in Amy's current prediciment and yeah, you have been put through the ringer, literally and figuratively." He pointed at the scar on Sonic's back.

"No joke." Sonic held the right side of his face. The pain of his tooth eminated with any movement.

There was a sudden knock on the door and Knuckles burst into the room. "I can read!"

Sonic and Tails blinked a few times as the information processed. Sonic spoke up, "And this has you freaked out?"

Knuckles frantically nodded, "YES!"

Sonic took his arm and turned him around. They walked out the door. "Great timing, then. We're all heading to therapy."

"T-that'll be good...yeah, huh, okay," Knuckles said and followed along. He had a complicated book clenched in his hands.

As the group passed through town, an argument came within earshot. "I'm so sick of how goddamn nice you all are," yelled BG. "Be angry for a change! Agh!" She slammed her front door. "Why do I even bother acting out if you don't punish me you dumbass-" She stormed off her front stoop in time to run into Sonic and the others. "What? What do you want?"

He shrugged, "Wanna try therapy? Maybe yell into a pillow, or something."

BG pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "I'm going to have to repeat myself, aren't I?" She drew a deep breath and was about to yell when Rolph cut her off.

"Shut the hell up and come with us to therapy, you crazy cunt," he said and folded his arms with a huff.

BG blushed as she folded her arms in return, "W-was that so hard?" She too huffed and followed the rest of the group to the hospital.

* * *

Everyone is getting overwhelmed, but at least they're all coming together to deal with it ;D


	88. Chapter 88: Round Table Therapy

Finally, I finished editing this beast. x.x

* * *

 **-Chapter 88: Round Table Therapy-**

* * *

Sonic went to the front desk of the hospital and spoke to the lady behind the computer for several minutes. Afterward, she handed Sonic a keychain with two keys attached.

He came back to the others in the waiting area. "Good news and bad news...and then some more bad news. This way first." Sonic led them to a conference room with a large oval table, surrounded by chairs. "The good news is that the hospital is willing to accomidate us in this whole 'group threapy session'. We can use this room for as long as we need, up till midnight. Bad news is that they don't currently have a crisis doctor on call anymore."

"That feels like an essential service, why don't we have that," BG asked as she texted Staci to show up. She tilted her ears and heard a small noise far away, underground.

He continued. "That's the other 'bad news'," Sonic said with remorse. "The doctor we _did_ have for this sort fo thing had to go overseas to help the troops. Now the doctor _herself_ is in need of counseling. The hospital is trying to get ahold of her to see if she wants to join us."

"That's balls," BG said and put her phone away.

"I have an idea though," Sonic said and sent out a group message to a few others, Mina included, to see if they wanted to join in. "There, let's see if we get any more." He turned to the group. "If there's one thing Amy's taught me, it's that it doesn't matter if you talk to a professional or not, talking about your baggage is a great way to figuring stuff out."

Mina rushed into the room at top speed and stopped quickly, "Did I miss anything?!"

Sonic held his chest and made sure his heart stayed put. "Geez, no, we haven't started yet," he said and took a breath.

Mina blushed, "Heh, sorry. Group therapy is amazing, I'd hate to miss out," she said and took up an empty seat next to BG.

"C-cool, yeah, I agree." BG then went catatonic.

"We've all got stuff going on at the worst possible time. Things look dicey. As of right now, all we have is one another to talk about it with. Trick is...who goes first?" he asked hesitantly.

BG snapped to and raised a hand in the air. As she waggled it, her many new metal bracelettes jangled. "No second guesses there. Allow me. Wait till the twins get here first. Staci and Perci want to get in on this whole 'feelings' thing." She continued to monitor her phone closely.

"Is that alright with everyone?" Sonic saw the room collectivly agreeded. "Then, we wait."

Anne and Rolph perked up and spoke to Sonic while the others chatted amongst themselves. "There's other twins in the village?" Anne asked him.

Sonic nodded. "You got it; and as soon as Amy gives birth in a couple months, there'll be another pair of twins."

Anne's eyes brightened up. "Can we meet Amy?"

"After we're done here, I can take you to see her," Sonic said quietly.

Anne read his expression to be remorseful. Her tail stealthily made contact with her brother.

Rolph gave a shallow nod.

Mina got the attention of the room. "Hey, folx, I think it would beneficial to remove the table from the situation." She laid her fingers proped up on it's surface so her palms didn't touch the table top. "It divides us. It puts people at the head. It leaves people on the sidelines. I say we should prop it against the wall and leave the chairs in a ring."

"I'm down." BG stood up and placed her hands under the edge of the table.

Sonic looked to knuckles who was lost in the book he'd brought along. "Sure thing. We can get this. Rolph, can you grab an edge?"

Rolph nodded and did so.

Mina and the three others managed to lift the table on it's side and laid it against the largest back wall.

Within the half hour, they had a full room. All but three chairs were filled.

Sonic and Knuckles, Mina, BG, Staci and Perci, Anne and Rolph, and finally, Dave The Manager all sat around in the chairs.

"Thanks for being here, everyone," Sonic said to the room of people. "Our crisis doctor is currently out of order, so we've taken it into our own hands to try and talk about what's bothering us. Don't know how this is gonna help, all I know is that Amy's psycho-babble-mumbo-jumbo is actually helpful. So we're gonna give it our best shot. You wanted to go first, BG." He gave the floor to the teen rabbit girl.

BG stood up and gave a sigh. "I'm constantly made to feel like shit because none of my family knows how to be mad. It feels like I'm being babied any time I lose my temper. They're impossible to talk to, so here I am, talking to a room with a bunch of strangers, two people who've probably heard me complain about this enouhg for a lifetime, and Mina," BG said with a flourish in Mina's direction. She took her seat and her multitude of metal jewelery jingled loudly. "That's all I got to say."

"You mean, you get angry and your family says 'she's a kid, don't blame her, she doesn't know any better'," Rolph asked.

"Ya-huh," she nodded and clicked her tongue. She held an arm out to bump fists, "This guy gets it," BG said and bumped with Rolph.

"Heh, I get ya when you say you hate being treated like a kid." He grinned with a full set of white teeth and dual fangs. He made her blush. "I feel like I'm constantly under lock and key. Everything I do is being examined with a microscope and I'm not allowed to be my own person. I get that there's rules wherever you go, but everyday feels like overkill."

Anne nodded, "I feel similarly, but add this on to it: When I do get my freedom, I feel it won't be for long. I fear both the successes and the failures in my life equally. I have no safe space I can go to."

Perci followed and said, "That's scary. I'm in school right now and no matter how hard I study, I feel like I'm being stonewalled by the men in my class. Medicine is hard enough to practice on this island without sexism getting in the way. And with work, some weeks, money's so tight, I'm forced to choose between my books and my meals."

Sonic jumped in, "Unemployment _is_ at an all time high. Until the new shops in town open up, there aren't a whole lot of ways to earn money, without going to the city to the north, or further. Amy and I have two more mouths on the way, sooner than expected, so our budget is super tight too. I've got so much on my plate, I keep looking for distractions rather than things that'll remedy the current situation. I don't think I need to tell you all about the whole 'werehog' thing, which makes finding a job outside of town downright impossible."

Mina followed up, "Public opinion means a lot. Concentrated crowds on talk shows are easy to manage, but a full blown concert is a wild card. I know I have support here on Seaside Island, especially from here in Hedgehog Village, but I can't shake the feeling something I missed is going to come up and bite me. It's like Anne and Perci said, I fear both success and failure."

Staci nodded next, "I get compared to my sister all the time. Her success is more reason for our folks to come down on me and say 'you aren't so identical afterall, I guess, hu-hu-hu'," she said with a 'masculine sounding' cadence. "Even when I did try, it was never good enough. I mean, yeah, push me to do my best, but fuck, stop beating me down."

Everyone looked at Knuckles and Dave.

Dave gave Knuckles the floor with a hand gesture.

"I...I've never been able to read. Or know numbers," Knuckles opened the book to a random page. It was a complicated book with no pictures beyond graphs. He read flawlessly, "Town counselman Edgar brought the evidence to the attention of the court. No longer facing further scrutiny under section 45-709, we've decided to allow the jugicial comittee to proceed with-," he stopped short and snapped the book shut in his hand. "I don't even know _what_ I'm reading, but I know it's boring." He handed to the book off. "Anyway, I'm worried knowing things and remembering stuff is going to change who I am."

Sonic checked the legitimacy of the words. "How is this possible? There's no way you've been faking illeteracy your whole life."

He shrugged. "Me and Jules were working on learning numebrs yesterday and I was struggling with them. Then when we looked at them today, I remembered them all. They were all still in my head and I hadn't even looked at them again till now. I don't get it...why now," he reeled. "I remember the walk over here, sitting down, what everyone said...and, I don't have any blank spots. I can read words and remember things...I can remember everything...why? What am I gonna do?"

"Why is it bothering you? Reading is a good skill to have?" Mina asked.

"Being smart is gonna change who I am. Isn't it?" He seemed discouraged.

"Knuckles, memories change how you handle situations, they don't change the person that you are," Mina said sweetly.

"You think so?" He seemed calmer.

She smiled cheerfully. "Absolutely. And the more memories you create, the more insight you'll have to help others around you. I know," she said and hit one fist off the opposite palm. "Think about all the moives you've seen. Each and every one doesn't change who you are, but you learn from them? Right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, think of your past as a movie you can learn from. It's not going to change who you are, but it will help you become a more complete 'you'."

Knuckles thought about it. "Yeah! It's a movie that I'm the star of...that I never knew I starred in." He murrmered in wonder. "That's deep."

Sonic smiled wide, "I got a feeling you're going to be your same old 'you' regardless of what you remember." He turned his attention to Dave. "Last but not least."

Dave shrugged. "I think I got it pretty good right now. A friend paid back a favour and got my mum her medicine for the rest of the month, so we broke even after my missed time." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a neatly folded letter. He handed it to Sonic. "If you don't mind giving this to someone who can keep MehBurger hours regular during the luau, that'd be greatly appreciated."

Sonic looked over the sealed letter, then tucked it under his communicator. "I can do that, for sure. Why aren't MehBurger's hours normal during the Luau?"

Dave rolled his eyes and brushed his bangs out of his eyes. BG averted her gaze. "Pff," he said, "They make more money off of the beach BBQ's. It makes more sense for the owner to syphon customers that way."

"Why are you losing hours if the owner of MehBurger owns the BBQ? Why not put you at a beach kiosk?" Mina asked.

He sighed, "Because if he outsources, he can pay the new employee's minimum wage. I make a bit more than minimum wage. He's pinching pennies."

Mina looked disgusted, "Ech, corporations are the worst. Like a few dollars is going to break them when they know full well how much it effects their employees."

"I can't do anything unless the public demands it. I can't argue that the luau food is in every way superior to ours."

Sonic shook his head in disagreement, "No way. The guys at the luau didn't add cilantro to their chili. Hard pass," he said and held up a hand.

"One of my courses does involve a lot of social interaction," Perci said. She reached for a clipboard and pen on a nearby desk that lined the wall behind her. "The project needs a cause, a following and a petition. This seems to fit the bill. Let's see if we can get MehBurger to stay open." She titled the page and extended to the person to her left, Mina.

"I'm on board," Mina said and offered her name as the first on the petition of 'Keep MehBurger Open for the Luau'.

BG got on her phone and read out loud as she texted. "Hey, Daddy, Perci is making a petition to keep MehBurger open during the Luau. If yak-for-brains doesn't listen, can you convince him otherwise..." She looked up. "He's typing...oh, look at that, thumbs up. We have a plan B. You're welcome."

Mina laughed a bit, "Nicely done. Give power to the people in more ways than one."

Staci huffed, "You should see BG's dad. Loki is basically a beige Knuckles with bunny ears."

Mina looked at Knuckles. Knuckles held a finger up on either side of his head to resemble rabbit ears. Mina clasped her hands together, "Aww."

"Rolph," Sonic got his attention, "Why don't you see if you can get a job at the beach?"

He pondered it with a chin tap, "I'd need an ID and social-number'something'or'other to work, don't I?"

Sonic nodded, "Yeah. I need to got to town hall after this anyway; I'll grab the forms you both need." He turned to Anne. "What about a job at the movie store, or maybe the daycare? I know they're losing people for school soon. They're going to need more staff to replace them."

Anne hesitated. "As much as I love movies, my knowledge is a little out dated." She smiled hopefully, "But...you trust me enough to care for kids?"

Sonic gave her a reassuring nod. "Of course. The whole point of today was to get you two involved in the village and welcome you as residents."

Staci piped up, "You're planning on living here? Awesome. You two should come over tonight. We can introduce you to some interesting folks." She and BG wiggled their finger so only their tips touched. BG's ears picked up another quiet underground sound that quickly dispersed.

Sonic interveaned and gave her a side glance, "You don't mean the Lightening Bolt Society, do you?"

She gave a sheepish smile, "...nnnnno," she said with a snicker from her and BG.

He shook his head, "No comittee stuff until they're both signed up and on the town's roster. We need accountability."

"Gross. Procedure. Fine," she sat back. "I am interested in that movie store job. Didn't know there was an opening," she slouched down in her chair and folded a leg over her opposite knee.

After the plan was set, BG slipped a note in behind Daves letter Sonic held behind his communicator on her way out the door. Everyone left the meeting area but Sonic and Knuckles.

"Knucks, why don't you turn in a resume for the beach too? You already know how to cook, it kind of feels like the next logical step."

"Sure. I'll apply when I can." He nodded slowly. "I'd still like to know what's going on with me ..."

Sonic thought about the state of his house. Shadow in particular crossed his mind. "I had an idea about that. Let's get some MehBurger and bring some back to Jules."

They left the ground floor conference room. The door shut itself behind them. Seconds later, a book fell over in the empty tomb.

* * *

Yep, I keep on truckin ;D


	89. Chapter 89: Food For Thought

Hoo-boiiii, this was a doozy too! :)

Tying up loose ends is one thing, tying them all together is another. ;D

* * *

 **-Chapter 89: Food For Thought-**

* * *

Sonic and Knuckles stood in awe of Julie-Su's handstand pushups. "You're feeling better, I see," Sonic said with amazment from the open front entrance of her and Knuckles home.

"I knew you'd be up and running in no time, babe," Knuckles said happily.

"You bet," Jules carefully lowered one leg to the floor, then the other, and brought herself upright once again. Knuckles extended a bag of MehBurger goodness to her. "Oh, you went to get supper? I had the leftovers already...but..." She took the bag and pecked him on the cheek. "I think I still have room," she said and dug into the fries.

"Tell me, has Shadow been over here recently?" Sonic asked.

Jules nodded as she uncovered a burger and took a large bite. Through chewing, "Him and Rouge were over for supper again last night."

"Again," he said with confusion.

"Stuff does happen with us off screen." Jules jokingly said. "But yeah, he usually comes over here after Rouge drags him to MehBurger. The guy is _not_ a fan of their food. Knuckie really won him over with that brisket the other night."

Sonic laughed. "Fair enough. Next question," he said and pointed to the pot in the sink. "What did you guys have?"

"Stew," Knuckles said. "He didn't finish the broth because we ran out of buns. I got him to put the rest back in the pot. Jules shared some wine with Rouge then they left. An hour later was when Rouge went missing." Knuckles was able to recount the events clearly.

"Next, next question," he said and looked at Jules. "Did you start to feel better after you had the leftovers?"

Jules finished the burger and checked her memory banks. "Um, now that you mention it...yeah," she said and planted a fist on her hip. "What's with the twenty questions?"

"I need to be totally sure. If you got a few minutes, follow me," he said and walked back to town.

Knuckles and Jules shrugged at one another but followed their team leader out of curiosity.

Sonic brought them through town, bought a sucker from a stall and tracked back to his house. "Shadow! You're the cure!" he said and unwrapped the sweet he'd bought. He extended it to Shadow, who sat amidst papers at his kitchen counter.

"What?" He looked at the blue sucker with a blue sucker.

"I need you to trust me. Try this," he again represented the sucker for Shadow to take.

Shadow took it in hand and sat there, confused.

"Try it," he said and received a squint from the guy. "It's not sour, promise."

Shadow popped the candy and tasted raspberry. "Why is this blue? Raspberries aren't blue."

"I think it's to tell it apart from other red candy. Now, if you don't mind," he said and grabbed the sucker stick.

Shadow didn't budge. "...I actually like this."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to 'science' here. Humor me."

He allowed him to take the candy. "You can't use that word like a verb."

"I can and will," Sonic said and put the sucker in his own mouth.

"Ew," Rouge said and extended a hand as if to say 'why?'.

"Hang on," he said and put the candy right on his split tooth.

Shadow was also at a loss for words. He shook his head and went back to read more reports.

"All this info has taught me a lot about you, Shadow." Sonic took the candy out of his mouth. "Sugarfree isn't the greatest." He tossed it into the kitchen bin and refocused. "Amy and I learned that you're the 'be all end all' cure for every terrestrial illness. These reports rave about the success of the 'Ultimate Lifeform'."

"I could have just told you that," Shadow said ad he continued to focus on his work.

Soni went on, "Your brothers and sisters all have similar healing abilities, which is why after 'Project Shadow' was terminated, they took all the embryos and beings down here to Mobius to continue testing. They looked for similar results."

Sonic sat on the only spot on his couch that didn't have papers on it. "Hugh lost a lot of his abilities to heal because of the whole 'werehog' thing," he tugged on his beard. "All the beings infected with more than one of these had adverse side effects, this is mine and an allergy to meat was his."

He reached beneath the coffee table and pulled out Amy's binder of shorthand notes and opened to the summary page they'd come up with shortly before she was frozen. "While Xaun worked on our window the other day, we got him to listen for and debug our house. Someone has been spying on us since the beginning, so we've been feeding them false information and playing dumb." Sonic extended the summary sheet to Shadow.

He took it and read it over. "What's your point?"

"I'm getting there." Sonic felt his back tooth with his tongue. It was still broken. "Eggman's making shady deals with overseas dictators, the town oligarchy is cripling it's people and we're picking up a lot of seismic activity." He held up the note the teen had slipped him. He read aloud, "I don't want to cause shit, but I think I hear an earthquake coming." He tossed the note on the table. "Eggman must be drilling. He said the oil was close to the volcano vein, maybe he didn't stop drilling and it's causing in the tectonic plate the island is on to weaken. The town's politicians know this so they're banking money and probably going to bail shortly."

"Why would Dr. Eggman do that? If the volcano errupted, that's bad news for him too," Rouge said.

Sonic nodded with doubt, "You'd think that, but the guy's had some impressive tricks up his sleeve in the past. If he wants to make his theme park on this island still, flattening us with pyroclastic flow would be the way to do it." He looked at a few confused faces. "Pyroclastic flow is a cloud of volcanic dust that boils and flatens everything in it's path. It's so fast, Shadow, Mina and Myself are the only three who would be able to outrun it. Tails wouldn't even be able to get off the ground to avoid the heat and gasses."

The room went deathly quiet.

Sonic checked his tooth again. "...huh..." he laughed warmly. "Which brings me around to the whole 'sucker' thing. I figured Egghead is looking for this healing technology so when he sets off the volcano, he'll be able to heal from any of the blast's negative effects." He pointed at his jaw. "My tooth is fixed. Like Jules back pain, and Knuckles memories, your nanomachines healed our injuries, just like that." He snapped a finger to show speed.

Shadow looked thoughtful.

Sonic followed up, "Furthermore, if an injury occurs in this theme park of his, your nanomachines could heal them and help avoid lawsuits. That one's a bit of a stretch, but it would explain why he wants to keep you on his side."

Shadow considered the notion. "It's also possible he's looking for immortality. He'd need a constant supply of my nanotechnology for that though."

Sonic looked grim, "Maybe wearing those rings is a bad idea. If he wants to literally use you to farm these nanomachines, he could do it."

Shadow looked at his inhibitor rings. "True. These do help focus my energy, but I could make do with a substitute." An idea came to him suddenly. "Something that could replace them is additional chaos magic." Shadow left the paperwork behind and stood up for the first time in an hour. He stretched his stiff neck. "In the video of the attack at Eggman's, I noticed your eyes were glowing. You used the power of chaos to enhance your assault. It's concerning. If I had a second chaos emerald, I could use it's magic instead of the rings; additionally, your second form won't be so powerful."

Sonic looked skeptical. "How do I know you'll give it back?"

Shadow grit his teeth. "It's imprinted with you. You call it back at will."

Sonic shrugged incredulously. "I knew that." He held his hand up and produced the green chaos emerald.

Jules eyes went wide. "Wow..."

He allowed the stone to fall into his hand in it's physical form. "It's a shame you can't take Amy's too. She's not gonna be using it for a while." He tossed the stone to Shadow.

Shadow caught and absorbed the stone. It vanished into thin air.

"That's so cool," Jules said quietly with a bright and curious expression.

"I could take her stone now, if you'd be comfortable with that," he said as he felt the energy of the green emerald along side his own.

Sonic held a hand up and presented his partner who sat still and comfortably on the opposite side fo the room. "If it doesn't affect the time-whatever, go for it."

Shadow smiled at the guy, "You trust me with that power? What if I turn on you all?"

Sonic gave him a cocky smirk, "Why did you join the military again?"

Shadow huffed and returned the cocky gesture, "Shut up," he said. He walked over to Amy and held a hand in front of her face and concentrated. "...there it is," he said as he carefully brought Amy's cyan coloured emerald into existance. He caught it in his right palm.

"It's so cool you guys have this magic," Jules said with excitment. "I can't wait to go to Angel Island for my own emerald."

Knuckles perked up. "Shadow," he said and turned to the guy as he absorbed Amy's jewel. "Can you check if someone has an emerald already?"

Shadow felt the additional energy flow over him. "I can." He removed his rings. With a slow breath, he steadied his borowed powers.

Knuckles turned to Julie-Su. "Babe, you said you went to Angle Island when you were little, didn't you?"

She nodded. "Long ago. So long, I don't really remember the trip."

Knuckles sighed. "Do you think you forgot it...because it was scary?"

Julie-Su's expression faded.

"Shadow," Knuckles turned to face him, "I think Jules has the chaos emerald already. But the day she got it was the day the island was dropped." He touched an old scar on the back of his head. "If I'm being healed, that would explain why I remember stuff now. I remember my people giving me my emerald as they took the master emerald into hiding."

"Intresting." Shadow did the same thing for Jules that he'd done for Amy. With no effort, Shadow pulled a purple chaos emerald from Julie-Su's essence. "Catch it," he said.

She put her hands up in time. The magical object fell into her palms. "How?" She trembled and fell to her knees. Tears formed in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. "I'm touching actual magic."

Knuckles scratched his head and attempted words. He knelt next to her and pat her shoulder in comfort.

Sonic watched Shadow struggle slightly out of the corner of his eye. "That saves us a trip. I'll let Tails know." He sent off a message to the guy.

Jules turned the jewel over in her hand and admired the jem's crystal clear reflections.

"We can train you to use it better," Knuckled said.

"Knucks can even show you how to call it up at will. He was the first of us to figure it out when we were younger." Sonic felt a bit shakey from the loss of his jem.

She held it close to her heart and it vanished. She felt her front, fearing she'd dropped it. The chaos emerald was still with her. Jules now felt it within her. "Uh, that'd be appreciated."

* * *

...:D


	90. Chapter 90: Talk to Me

Time for another long one.

Sorry for the wait. My shoulders are both ker-fuckled and it's hard to write at the moment. x.x

* * *

 **-Chapter 90: Talk to Me-**

* * *

Shadow neatened a stack of skimmed documents he'd absorbed.

Rouge powered through her work as enthusiasticly as she could manage. By compairson, her finished work was a megar pile of papers. "My goodness, I still don't know how you manage to read so fast."

He sat back down on the couch next to her and continued his tasks. "It's how I work, Rouge."

She picked up a handwritten book. "I'm starting to think you aren't talking about your work ethic when you say that."

"I'm not," he assured her.

Rouge looked at the cover of the book in her 'next' pile. She read the title to herself. ' _Essences?_ ' It was a scribbler with a light blue cover and slightly darker blue, plastic coil. "What is this? Is it supposed to be here?"

Shadow examined the two hundred page notebook his partner held. "Where was it?"

She pointed to a pile of assorted books, files, pictures and a binder. "This coil one looks new...well, new'ish."

"Sonic gathered those. It must belong."

"If you say so." Rouge read the table of contents. "..." She did her best to stay straight faced. She read on. Several pages in, her reading intensified. Rouge was in focus.

Shadow took notice. "It seems interesting enough. This is the fastest I've seen you read since we started."

"It's..." She shut the book. "Is it possible this one got tied up with the others accidently?"

He attempted words.

She cut him off. "Don't get me wrong, it's nothing bad. I think. It's a novel. A collection of stories."

"Let me see," he said and extended a hand.

"They're romance themed..." She handed it over and awaited his reaction.

Shadow read on. "..." He skipped through pages and saw similarities in the handwriting he'd read for several hours. He flipped to the centre of the book for further context. Words and phrases caught his attention in an awkward way. He shut his eyes along with the book and extended it back to Rouge. "You're in charge of this."

"What?! I don't think it's supposed to be in here!" She read the opening page and counted years in her head. "Hold on. This was written years ago."

"Exactly. Why would that, of all things, be mixed up in this?"

Rouge hesitated.

"You've seen the list of codes we've gathered." Shadow revealed the four pages worth of messages and instructions they'd pulled off the rescued and created documents that littered the small home by the hundreds.

"That's fair and all..." Rouge thummed though all the pages quickly and delicately. "I wish there was a way of knowing if it was important or not."

"Why does that matter? A lot of what we read is useless."

She planted a fist as she sat. "I'm interested in knowing if I'm allowed to enjoy it or not."

He furrowed his brow at her. "...is that why you were reading so efficently? Keep it in your pants while you're on the clock."

She began ignoring him andnread again. "It'll be impossible to read if I put it there, darling."

The budding argument was silenced when Sonic and Knuckles came back with Meh Burger for the two hardworking bookworms.

Rouge silently continued on without interruption.

"We come bearing rations," Sonic said and laid fastfood bags on the single clean space his counter offered.

"Except they only 'kind of' taste like sawdust," Knuckles assured them.

"Military rations taste fine to me. Pass." Shadow read on instead of repremading Rouge for her lackidasical approach and immediate turn around, or Team Sonic's waste of time buying food shaped from compressed cardboard.

"Did you get the icecream?" Rouge flipped another page and poked a clean coffee table area for her dessert.

"And the cheez-fries?" Sonic held up the coagulated carbs piled in a small brown cardboard package.

"Feed it to me," she said, zoned out, her head slightly to the side and mouth ajar. Her eyes stayed fixed on her new 'romance book', slash 'study material'.

"Rouge," Shadow made contact with her attention.

Rouge gave Shadow side eyes and sighed. "Yes, yes, sorry dear. Lay it here and I'll get to it shortly."

Everyone but Shadow dug in.

"Where are the twins?" Shadow asked as he neatened yet another stack of finished work in his 'done' pile.

"After therapy, we let them stay with the twins," he said to be confusing.

Shadow looked frustrated. "Explain."

"Staci and Perci." Sonic clarified.

Shadow recognized a name. "Staci, of the Lightening Dolts? That group can't be a good influence. Do you really want to electricute them into submission?"

Sonic lost his jollyness and resorted to a halfhearted smirk. "You see, funny story, couple of funny stories, actually. First, the necklace duplicate Tails made didn't work," he said with a chuckle and held up an empty palm.

"That's not a funny story," Shadow said bluntly.

"Where's the original then? I've been without for far too long." Rouge briefly laid her middle finger in her book and marked a spot in the half closed tomb.

Sonic looked sheepish and held out his other empty palm, "That's the other funny story...we think Snively's wife has it."

"That was less funny than your first story!" Rouge snapped at him.

"Now, hang on. We gave Orbot the duplicate and he's going to take a look for the original so he can swap them." Sonic attempted to calm her down.

Rouge looked flustered with her teeth gritted. She calmed herself down with a breath, "It's alright. It's safe. It's fine. I'm fine," she lied to herself.

"They leave tomorrow, so we made sure to ask him to move quickly," Sonic put the frustration cherry on the pissed off sunday.

Wordlessly, with only a tongue click, Rouge tucked the interesting reading material away. She picked up her icecream and fries, put them into the fridge and freezer respectivly, then headed for the door. "I'll be back for those. If you'll excuse me darlings, I need to take back what's mine," she said and left. The door slammed behind her.

A moment of silence.

"I think she's mad," Knuckles said through chewing a mouthfull of shoestring fries.

"A bit," Sonic concured.

"Pay her no mind. She'll get it back." Shadow concentrated and allowed all three chaos emeralds to float in a ring in front of him. "If either Anne or Rolph step out of line, I have ways of subduing them that weren't an option before." After a few rotations, the emeralds dissappeared once again. "Has Julie-Su had any luck with her's?"

Knuckles swallowed his food and shook his head. "None yet. Give her another hour. Jules is gonna try a bit of meditation to call her emerald out again. Xaun's busy tonight, so she headed back to the house to practice."

Sonic leaned forward on his couch, reached out and picked up some papers with either hand. "Speaking of practice. Eeh?"

Knuckles chuckled, "Fristly, I only started reading again, I don't wanna bore myself out of knowing words. Secondly, I think it's more important I help Jules with her training. Thirdly, too many cooks spoil the broth. You guys got this," he said and began his way to the door. "Don't worry about paying me back for the food. My treat, buddy," Knuckles said and left out the door with two fully snapped 'finger guns'.

Shadow and Sonic were alone with the piles of files. They continued on in silence.

Sonic put together two packages of legal documents for both Anne and Rolph. "I like the curtain idea," Sonic said out of nowhere.

Shadow snapped to and registered what was said. "You have Rouge to thank for that," he said and looked over to the side of the living room where Amy resided, frozen in time. With some twine tied to the rafters, Rouge assembled a removable curtain of several pink and white shear curtains. "While you were gone, she suggested that 'out of sight, out of mind' may help you cope better."

He let out a soft, thoughtful huff, "That was nice of her."

Shadow periodically checked on 'The Duke' to see if his countenance changed as they studied.

"I'm fine," Sonic said when he finally noticed.

Shadow looked off to the side and rused. "I didn't want to interrupt you. Here," he said and gathered up some handwritten notes he and Rouge compiled. "Even with Amy's codemaster it's still a bit dodgey to decipher." He held up the translated parts. "To hide her findings on town hall issues, Eggman Industries and his connection to Duchad's empire she's used cryptography, anagrams, numbered words on certain pages and, if my guess is correct, based on what Rouge is reading: Analogies."

"Analogies?" Sonic's expression went blank as he recalled and recognized the book Rouge bagged on her way out. He took Shadow's note in hand and sighed, "Amy's got a hell of an imagination," he said and looked at the unsolved portions. "...these are for the information we got when we noticed you two were spying on us," he said and looked up at Shadow without moving his head.

Shadow froze.

Sonic shot up and pointed an accusing finger at his unsavory guest, "HA! I knew it!"

"Listen-" Shadow attempted an explaination. He paused with the assumption he'd be interrupted.

"...out with it," Sonic folded his arms and waited.

Shocked, he mentally gathered words and spoke astutely. "Rouge and I didn't _have_ to come here. Anyone from the military could have been assigned to his outpost. It served my purpose, so I volunteered to take up the job here, specifically. We are looking for minerals for town hall. We are looking for chaos tech for Eggman, but it was to strengthen our own froces and solidify an alliance. I was going to spy on you and completely ruin your name, but-"

"WHAT!?" Sonic's fangs showed themselves.

Shadow took notice and felt a pang of fear. "I said WAS!" He snapped back, fearless behind three emeralds. "Then I saw what you'd been doing these last few years. Not only were you an expecting parent, you've been more involved with your community, you'd given your house to your friend, free of charge, I've learned. Later, I find out you speak multiple languages fluently, have been training for the last decade without faltering and between you and Amy, I can't put an accurate number on how many magical artifacts and jems you've accumulated."

Sonic folded his arms tightly and looked smug. "If that's true, none of your information should be tainted then. We talked a lot of bullshit when we thought people were listening."

Shadow nodded. "Our information is fine. We haven't been eavesdropping on you. We shut off the channels the night of the Luau."

He relaxed, "Good. You two were occupied that night. How'd you pull that off?"

"'Rouge's Boys', as she's apt to call them."

"Come again?"

"In a bout for her affection, the weasel bandits rebranded as such and began to do her bidding."

He raised an intreugied eyebrow, "Bidding?"

"You heard me correctly. You'll have to ask her if you want to know more," he said with a shrug and went back to work. "Are we good now?"

Sonic gave it a solid thought, or two. "...we're good."

They went back to work.

Once more, Sonic broke the silence, "Shadow, I do want to know something: Did you happen to come across what happened to Rolph's eye?"

Shadow thought about it. "I was wondering about that too. We actually couldn't find anything. The notes on the twins were sparse. They only go so far as to mention their birth, and the stinger on Anne's tail."

"I'll have to ask, later on. The reason they left to hang with the local teens in the first place was because BG said Rolph would look sexy in an eye patch." Sonic said with several, single finger chin taps.

Shadow facepalmed.

In town at the 'Beast Boutique', BG held up a black shirt with white trim and collar to Rolph's front. "I got material that'll make a good match if we get you this one."

While BG fiddled with her phone, Rolph admired his visage in the mirror. He opened his right eye for only a second and shut it again before anyone took notice. With his casualy rough voice, he grinned and nodded. "It'll look great...I bet," he said with phoney uncertainty.

"Cool," BG flipped her phone shut as she handed the shirt to Rolph off the hanger. "We'll get you and your sis into new threads, drop by my place for the material and then bounce over to nerd-boi's for a sewing machine."

"I like it," Rolph said as he pretended to flip up the collar of his new shirt.

* * *

O.o K.k I.i C.c


	91. Chapter 91: Informants

Time marches on. o_O

Holy hell the holidays are hectic. X.x

* * *

 **-Chapter 91: Informants-**

* * *

BG laid a knock on Tails workshop door. Cream answered and let in her sister and the small gaggle of teens, which included Staci, Anne and Rolph. The youngest members of the Lightening Bolt Society were all present: BG, Staci, Munkey, Stratford, Beth and Reindeer Girl, otherwise known as 'Pinkie'. They gazed at Tails workshop interior in awe.

"I've known you how long, and this is the first time I've been in here," Stratford put a fist on his hip as he looked at the back shelf full of gadgets.

"I keep a lot of my tech secrets in here. It makes no sense to share them with a rival," Tails said over his shoulder with a cheeky grin. He plugged in a large monitor he installed in the corner and allowed it to boot up.

"You wish you were good enough to steal from," he said as he pretended to pick something from his tusk and nonchalantly flicked it away.

"Come on, rich boys, play nice," Staci said.

"You should save yer pissin contest for when there's snow on the ground, I betcha'," Beth remarked sweetly.

They laughed.

Tails smiled as the monitor booted up successfully and displayed a channel from overseas on a commercial with a yellow duck with red hair screaming about corruption. He muted it.

"Casual rivaly aside, let's get down to business," Staci said as she poked a gyroscopic, prepetual motion bobble on a nearby table. The silver device generated electricity and powered a small spiral bulb on the desk next to it. "We secure?"

Tails watched the security system fire up. He gave a thumbs up.

"You're lucky I saw your message when I did." Staci pulled a list up on her phone. "When we didn't see Amy at the resturant with Orbot, we thought this whole thing was a bust." She planed a fist on a popped hip position. "Colurs say we move the goods." She looked up. "Already done, by the by." She looked back down. "Position in the restaurant said the location was Sticks burrow." She held up three fingers and lowered them as she spoke. "Conversation choice says that Eggman is a threat, Shadow and Rouge can be trusted, and we're all good to get paid while we casually await our new orders and..." She cringed with the last finger she held up, being the middle most one, "Behave ourselves." She stopped flipping Tails off.

He rolled his eyes as the rest of the room roaned. "That's a relief."

"In many ways," Cream said as she tended to her wooden Chow bed. She lined with some of BG's spare fabrics she brought.

BG pointed at her, "Catty, I like it."

Munkey laid the box of fabric bolts next to a sewing machine.

"Is it wise though to let Anne and Rolph hear all this?" He displayed the well dressed twins to the group. "As of right now, they're staying at Eggman's."

Rolph sneered, "Listen ya little snot! We haven't decided what side we're on as of yet. So zip it and stop assuming we'll rat you out."

Anne admired her makeup on the camera screen of her newly gifted phone. "If your little plan doesn't harm us in anyway, why in the absolut fuck would we care about it? I mean, we're glad to help, you've all been kind, but backstabbing isn't our default."

"Don't fault us for our past, you ass. You and your leader are both really stuck up, you know..." Rolph paused then huffed, "You know what?!" He opened both eyes wide and took a second to look at each person in the room indiviudally. "..." He shut his right eye again. "...I'm going to start on this eyepatch." On the way by he touched fingertips with sister and made it obvious he did so.

Anne smiled wide and made a heart with the furthest end of her long tail. "I have good news. We both like you all. Chill out. Okay?"

Rolph strung the sewing machine and grunted in approval. He opened both eyes and drew a pattern on the eyepatch lining fabric.

"Aren't you going to measure that?" Cream asked as she observed him politely from his left side.

"I did." He kept working steadily.

Tails tilted his head to the side slightly. "Uh, can I ask-"

"No," Anne said and took a sultry selfie.

The youngest members of the oposistion hung out until Rolph finished.

After they left, Tails immediately texted Sonic.

Back at Sonic's place, the blue blur broke the silence, shortly after he received Tails information. "Shadow, I want to know one more thing: Why are you in the military? Was it really to get to me?" He held up a paper that said 'Eggman may be listening, he cannot be trusted'.

Shadow wrote a reply. "What good would it do if you knew that?" He put down the paper he'd written on in pen. The three letters 'duh' on the page.

Sonic smirked and shrugged.

Shadow gave him a blank stare and saw no contempt. He huffed in defeat. "The last time we fought...what was I called?"

Sonic looked into memories of words said during their fight. "Faker?"

"And?"

"...jerk?"

" _And?_ " He grew frustrated.

"...douchebag?"

Shadow grit his teeth, "After the fighting stopped!"

Sonic continued thought processes and rubbed his nose with the back of his finger. "Uuuh...jeeerkfaccce?" he said and trailed off.

Shadow sighed and calmed himself. "It seems I put more importance on those words than you did." He sat back against the couch. "Between you and the Lightening Bolt's new leader I was called a pest. A nusiance. A disease, specifically 'The Black Death'. And-"

Sonic snapped and pointed, "-And a scourge on our town!"

"Mmm." Shadow deeply nodded then shook his head in disgust. "I wasn't created to be any of those things. It was like I betrayed the only people I considered family." Maria and Gerald came to mind. "I felt terrible."

"You should have. The entire town was nearly flattened and it took over a year to rebuild."

He hung his head. "I know. I'm sorry. After I heard how slow the progress was going, I felt I had to repent in some way. The military wanted to send aide but were short handed. I went in and flattened an entire camp of Duchad's enforcers to free up resources. It took time to find their location, but I teleported in and took every one of them out-who were present at the time." He corrected his statement at the end.

His blood ran cold. "You killed them?"

"Yes, I killed war criminals. I'm talking about scum who put their prisoners heads on pikes." Shadow flexed his fists angirly. "My only solice over missing a few is that a couple years later, one of their 'soon to be victims' not only escaped, but they bludgened the leader so badly, the whole left half of his body is permenantly paralysed."

Sonic grimmaced, "I'm having a hard time feeling bad for the guy," He thought of feeling happy about such an event. His skin crawled.

"As you should." Shadow continued his reasoning. "The military gave me structure, guidance and protection. Being called those names not only made mee feel useless, but it was a matter of controll and how I had none."

"You don't seem to be the type to need much protection. Without those rings on, you're untouchable, aparently." He recalled something Rouge said a while ago.

He shook his head. "That's only a recent development." He looked down at his ringless gloves and shoes. "Before, without them, the Black Arm had a lot more control over my actions than I'd care to admit. I've improved with the structure and stability the military offers. It's easy for me to be around people who dislike nonsence, and...I..." He struggled with words.

"Thanks for telling me, Shadow." Sonic finished organizing papers for Anne and Rolph.

"I trust you or yours won't mention about my ability to heal. It's bad enough Eggman knows about it, I don't need other war criminals using me for their own gains either."

Sonic agreed with a nod. "Me and the others already talked about that behind closed doors; yeah, we keep it under wraps. Only the team and Chaotix knows."

Shadow perked up at the mention of Vector's group. "That's right. Chaotix added two members." He pulled up a message on his glove's built in communicator. "Espio and Ray. Since we haven't fully vetted them, we'll hold off telling them all the details for now."

He nodded in agreement. "I saw that Espio guy in action during the 'robo-fights'. He's pretty slick."

"He also has ties to the ro-" Shadow's attention was broken.

Sonic noticed. "What's wrong?"

"Hugh wants to talk to me. Hold on," he said and shut his eyes.

"Do you really need to close your eyes for that?" Sonic leaned forward and watched Shadow speak with his sibling via telepathy.

"No. But it's better than blankly staring across the room."

"Fair enough."

He paused and listened. "...I see."

"Hmm?"

"Hugh wants to speak to Anne and Rolph. Apparently, he's been snooping on what I've been reading and he's learned more about the twins. Now he wants to apologize to them."

"He was ready to turn them into paste last time. He's being sincear, right?"

He nodded. "I read about their imprinting conditions." Shadow picked up some papers and sifted through them.

"Imprinting conditions?" Sonic tilted an ear in confusion.

"It's...difficult to explain." He located the information in question. "Do you mind if I speak to him in private?"

"No prob, man." He wrote another note and it read 'Find out about Rolph's eye'; he got a nod from Shadow. He went to the kitchen and straightened the documents he had wait a tap on the counter top. "I've got to drop these off at town hall, so you got the place to yourselves." There was a knock at the door that surprised them both. "Already? It's open."

Hugh entered. He was his regular size and somewhat out of breath. He went right to Shadow who extended the proper documents. "Let me see." With the clutch of papers in hand for only a moment, he lowered them again and mouthed the words. " _I can't read English._ "

Shadow poked him in the head for a second.

Hugh then understood and mouthed again. " _Thank you_." He got to reading. "Water?"

"I thought you were up north for a while," Sonic asked as he shimmied out of his kitchen through a narrow gap between boxes of water damaged goods on a blue tarp.

In a monotone voice of concentration, still slightly winded, "I was. Ran here. Going back shortly. Need carbs. Food?"

Sonic looked impressed. "Hmm, possibly. We still didn't get a big grocery order yet. We keep buying day to day stuff. It's weird, I know, but we throw out less food wast because of it." He went back to the kitchen and opened his freezer in search of a meatless 'anything'. He grabbed Rouge's icecream. "I'll go get her another one while you guys talk." He handed it to Hugh over the back of the couch and left them to their devices.

Hugh read for several minutes and allowed distance develop between them and Sonic. "I knew who these two were before." Hugh said and pointed at the paper. "They were one person before. A guy named Mex. They pushed him too hard and he reverted." He looked up and saw a confused expression on his brother's face. "It's the closest thing we have to dying on our own. We revert to egg form in extreme circumstances." Hugh shook his head in disgust. "If I knew that...I would have gone easier on them. They spent forty years underground because of me." Hugh looked upset.

"I doubt they remember being down there. I know that in stasis you don't have memories created, to save energy, so it makes no sense they'd remember the catacombs at all." Shadow held up his glove and pulled back the cuff. A small black communicator showed the date. "When I came to, there was a print on here that wasn't mine. Anne must have looked at it and figured out the date. They're smart, mindgames played up the sympathy card."

Hugh was relieved somewhat. "Still. They probably learned about where they came from, which is why they turned on the scientists. Dammit," he said and laid the papers down frustratedly. They slid off the top of the pile. "From the looks of it, the information of who they imprinted with is gone. Which means one of two things. Either they were forcably imprinted with one another. Or each of them has a partner that they were separated from. Tell me...did either of them mention having children at any point? I know Anne said she wanted children, but does she have any currently?"

Shadow shook his head. "Not that she's mentioned. Why?"

"Because if she imprinted with her brother, there should be a child between the two of them."

"Excuse me?"

"Imprinting causes pregnancy. Which is why you and Rouge haven't, you know...imprinted. You ain't ready," Hugh curtly said and lounged back on the couch. He sniffed the air then sat forward to examin the alien food Sonic had given him.

Shadow was put off and at a loss for words. Before he spoke up, Hugh began again.

"Or! Or...or Rolph is actually Anne's son. She had him, they placed her in stasis, aged her child to maturity and when she woke up, she didn't recognize him because they reprogrammed her to think she had a brother."

Shadow held up a paper. "They had two eggs after they introduced new gene's from the specimine known as 'X'."

"They're only half sibilings to us then." Hugh nodded. "How many offspring though? More twins, or what?"

"No clue. Anne was pretending to feed a doll earlier today, so that's a clue." Shadow off handedly mentioned.

"We act strangely when we're hungry. Don't you? Never mind. Was Rolph involved at all? With the feeding, I mean."

Shadow shook his head. "Not willingly." He recalled the applesauce covered sibling jammed into a highchair.

Hugh gave it thought and scooped up a glob of icecream obscured by fudge. "I suppose this is the kind of thing you can't really ask someone. If you think they may have actually have lost a child, it might hurt to bring it up again. It would also justify their anger towards Project Shadow."

Shadow nodded. "Exactly. I'd also like to know why Rolph keeps his eye shut like that."

Hugh dug into the chocolate fudge sunday and spoke eith a full mouth. "No clue. He had it open as an adolescent." His ears folded at the tast of chocolate melt over his tongue. He let out a small groan of delicious approval.

"It doesen't look to be injured. He mentioned 'expirmentation'."

Hugh was lost to the flavour of chocolate.

"Foucs, a little, at least." Shadow sighed.

"What? Sorry. Whatever this is, it's divine." He consumed another spoonful of delightful sweetness.

Shadow sighed that everyone who was supposed to help him read kept getting distracted.

* * *

This is the level of focus that jingling keys could disrupt. XD


	92. Chapter 92: Deception Artists

Now I'm on a roll. Let's see what Eggman's up to. ^_~*

* * *

 **- Chapter 92: Deception Artists-**

* * *

Snively met the Twins at the lair's door. "Welcome back," he said with little enthusiasm. He was quickly delighted to see both siblings fully dressed. He spoke lighter. "This is a plesant surprise. Where did you find the money to buy those? Or were they gifts?" He assumed.

Rolph fixed the collar of his shirt while Anne took a picture of him in the light of the open lair entranceway. "We were gifted," he said with a grin.

Anne used her phone and double checked the red eyeliner beneath her eyes. She made sure the light red accent BG added hadn't smudged. "Between our own charming selves, and or pity party, we got all this nice stuff." She tucked the phone into her new black purse with shiney red strap.

They followed him in. Rolph's new boots and Anne's heels clunked or clicked down the hallway behind the short human. The footwear was custom made at Tails and accomidated their gold ankle braclet anchors.

Cameras in the lair picked up the image of the twins and displayed it to a peeping Eggman. The two were similarly dressed in black, suit-like outfits, lined with white, and the occasional silver button or zipper. Their gold braclets stuck out and buckled their long sleve shirts near the penetration points.

The twins were shocked to see the lair was no longer in shambles. Anne gently brushed her brother's arm with her tail. She saw him nod. They kept quiet about it.

"The people in this town are quite generous, despite any overbearing economic issues," Snively said as he walked with his two arms folded behind his back.

"We also got a bit of a therapy session while we were out," Rolph said. "It felt good to talk about some stuff. Got a bunch of paper signing done to make us residents, too. At least we know for sure we're going to be allowed to stay here in the village without being prisoners."

"Therapy?" Snively scoffed but offered acceptance, begrudgingly. "Whatever will help improve your mood and hopefully develop some better habits. Maybe not playing with toys could be your first goal? Seems simple enough."

Anne's cheek twitched in anger.

"Or-or-or," Rolph stammered to avoid an outburst from his sister, "We find better toys that are suitable for adults. Play is an essential part of healing. It triggers endorphins and activates the reward centre of the brain. Remember, we've been basically frozen in time for longer than you've been on this planet; we got catching up to do on what is, and isn't, approriate for people our age."

Anne huffed in frustration.

Snively gave it thought. "I suppose."

After they were past the two lines of secure doors, Anne and Rolph were left to their own devices. They revisited the kitchen on the lowere level where they kept Nominatus hidden. Rolph opened the utensil drawer and fished the virus out.

"It's about time! It was cramped in there. I tried to manuever around to get comfortable and got my horns tangled in a whisk-" His complaint went uncomforted by a faux-mother figure. He noticed the serious look on the twins faces. "Wh-what's the matter?"

The siblings looked at one another and then back to Nominatus. "We both agreed that you look to much like Black Doom for us to be able to trust you," Anne said and took the tiny being from her brother and held him, mid tail.

Rolph poked Nominatus in the head and made him wince. "We know the leader of the Black Arm are after all of us. So how do we know for sure you aren't going to contact him and send a fleet to Mobius to abduct us? Seems like there'd be a lot of benefit to you and not us, in that scenario."

Nominatus struggled uncomfortably. "You can trust me! I don't want to be a prisoner either! The Black Arm will use me as they did in the past to get to Shadow or any of the Robotnik's!"

"What we're saying is that things have changed," Anne Squeezed the virus. "These people are good. They have no intention of harming us."

"Hell, some of them are totally legit in wanting to be friends with us," Rolph said and folded his arms smugly.

"How can you be so sure?! Because they gave you nice things? My dear friends, when I am back up to full power you two will be-" he was cut off.

"We don't want to concer! We want to live," Anne yelled. "When we said we wanted to be in control, we meant 'of our own lives', not the lives of others."

Rolph followed up. "We aren't fucking hypocrites! We only went along with you because we thought there were no other options. Just like last time..." Rolph lifted his black and white eyepatch, the red elastic stretched out and cut into his head quills. He focused his eyes on the being his sister held. He backed away. "I knew I shouldn't have...it's worse than we thought. Dammit...no way, sis," he said and shut his right eye tightly and sealed it with his patch. "Kill it now."

"Wait! NO!" Before Nominatus could protest, the end of Anne's tail stuck him in the neck. From the point of entry, his skin slowly changed from black to green. His markings turned black. His eyes darkened and half shut. When he released one final breath, his body disintagrated to powder and fell to the floor.

Anne stepped away from the dust pile, as to not dirty her new high heeld boots. She brushed any residual mess from her tail. "What was wrong with hi-"

Rolph cut her off with a wrist grab.

She saw what he saw and teared up, "That was almost a huge mistake." She pulled him in for a hug.

"You're telling me," he said and squeezed her tight.

Their embrace broke when none other than Doctor Eggman opened the door.

"Holy hell, do you ever look like Gerald," Rolph stated with a wide eye.

Eggman looked delighted. "You mean my grandfather, Gerald Robotnik?" The two in front of him nodded. He fully walked into the kitchen and saw the applesauce disaster was cleaned, but a new one, of dust, had been created. "Here I thought I was going to have a problem with you two." He kicked at the ashes of his fallen enemy. "Looks like I can trust you after all."

The twins looked sheepish. "Listen, we're sorry for snooping," Rolph said.

"We thought you were going to experiment on us. Nominatus said he could help us escape." Anne followed up and pointed to the pile of green power that no longer posed a threat.

Eggman chuckled. "I have all the technology I need to run this outfit of mine. I don't need to take anything from either of you. You two are meerly guests." He played his 'forgiveness card'. "Here, let me prove how 'okay' I am with you two. Come to my lab," he said and let the two reluctant Black Arm hybrids follow him.

Anne and Rolph felt the world close in around them. They held hands the whole way.

All worries were set aside when Dr. Eggman clipped a small device to their inhibitor rings. One at a time, they unlatched from the anchor and spun freely on their limbs. "There you go. Now you're free to take those rods out and remove the rigns, if you want. I have local anstetic if you need any."

Anne hit the four locations on her and her brother's body that had a titanium rod through it. "Thanks, but I make my own." They each gently twisted the rods from their wrists and ankles with little effort. Their wounds healed instantly.

"Thank you, Doctor," both said.

"We really appreciate it, Doc," Rolph added. "But we gotta leave these rings on. Lest the Black Arm begin screaming in our heads."

"They're a little too 'murdery', and that's coming from me," Anne said and arranged her braclets over her shirt cuffs to look stylish.

"To each his own," Eggman said and turned to get something from a nearby desk. "You're welcome to come and go as you please. Though I'd stay in after dark if I were you; what with the looming threat of ravanous werewolf attacks."

Rolph was instantly mortified as he recalled the attack. "That's right. The blue guy, Sonic, he's a werewolf like Hugh."

Eggman shrugged as he played his best 'convince card'. "I'm not concerned about your older brother. The guy preforms for the circus in this werewolf-tamer, slash, acrobatic act. He's pretty good. I feel like he's got his transformation figured out. This Sonic guy though, I don't know...kind of seems like a loose cannon to me."

Rolph walked closer to the doctor. "D-does he transform at the full moon, or just when he's angry?"

"Both." Eggman played up his best 'worried for the safety of others card'. "I'm afraid the rules for Sonic are different since he has two werewolf forms. He'll transform _every_ night and when he loses his temper." Eggman clicked on a monitor and showcased the two side by side, followed by a few videos his drones took of Sonic, out on the town in his transformed state. "He's shaken down the local fastfood place, he's bailed on his friends while they were supposed to be building a homeless guy a new house for him and his girlfriend; then to top it all off, he comes in for no good reason and destroys my home, looking for heaven knows what. Probably trying to steal from me again."

Anne and Rolph watched edited footage of the attack, clipped together through the various halls. The part where the twins subdued him played.

"Nice shot, sis." He fist bumped with his sister.

"I had a good angle."

"You two are pretty strong, yes, but the thing that's got me worried, is this," he said and rewound to a part that displayed Sonic's glowing green eyes. "This right here is stolen magic I use to power my base," he said and tapped a button on his wrist communicator. The entire wall behind them lifted and displayed a large gemstone. Green in colour, like Sonic's eyes, it hovered and spun on it's metal pedastal. Its energy was syphoned down into a machine for later use.

"I don't just use technology for power, I also use the Master Emerald. It was entrused to me by a nearly extinct Echidna Tribe, its a sacred object I'm sworn to protect. It's what I use to power the whole city and the majority of my base." He siged. "I had to use a lot of my power reserves to repair after the attack. Luckily I was planning on upgrading anyway, so I'm not holding a grudge; but if it happens again though, I don't know what will happen to the city. The Emerald can only produce so much energy at a time. If I deplete it too fast, it'll be destroyed."

In the background, a blurred image of Tails workshop was barely distinguishable on the wall's small monitor. A smashed device with the words 'descrambler 5000' lay in the corner of the room.

Anne touched her brother's arm with her tail once again.

He gave a shallow, frantic nod.

"I had more of these gems once-smaller ones-but they've long since been stolen from me." Eggman sighed yet again. He extended his arm to the rest of his lab full of random equipment and hald finished projects. "You're welcome to mess around in here for something to do. Just, uh, lay off the applesauce, thanks." He walked to the door and the twins nodded and waved distantly. "Ta-ta," he said and the door shut behind him. Neither of them saw his wicked grin as he walked back to an elevator that led to his actual lair below the surface.

Anne and Rolph stood in silence.

"You didn't get a chance to look at him...did you?" She said and brushed his arm with her tail. "Nope, nothing."

"I really...really don't want to see anymore." He covered his eyepatch with a hand.

"Then don't. We don't need all the answers. We can let things happen." She hugged him tightly.

"Okay." Rolph separated from the embrace and looked at the wall where the huge display of Sonic's were'wrath played on a loop. He shuttered. "They've been good to us...but he's fucking terrifying like that. I can't bare to even look at him normally, let alone all the posibilities of how he can shred me into little Black Arm bits."

"You can reform," Anne said dryly.

"Yeah! But it'll still be fuckin painful!" He snapped.

Anne looked hurt.

He pat her shouler. "I'm sorry, Anne. I gotta calm down. Getting pissy isn't going to help."

The two sat cross-legged, back to back on the floor, as they pondered and chatted about their next move.

Unbeknownst to them, Rouge laid silently in the ceiling vents. ' _How convenient I heard all that. Sonic was right, comedic timing is the best_.' She slinked along through the ventilation system with her retrieved necklace clenched between her teeth, along with an unintentionally pilfered gold chain necklace. ' _I'm going to report this to Shadow, talk to the Colonel about a raise, buy a buffer kit to repair the damage that nasty woman inflicted on my poor baby and then finish that lovely romance novel...and maybe some wine._ '

Rouge made her way back to Sonic's to deliver the information. A small black, teardrop shaped drone patrolled outside Eggman's lair. It witnessed her fly off into the night. It too left to make a report.

* * *

Bom. Bom. BOM! XD


	93. Chapter 93: Loose Ends

And so on...

* * *

 **-Chapter 93: Loose Ends-**

* * *

The next day Tails set up a sizemograph on the beach outside Sonic's old, but new and improved, beach shack.

Cream and Sticks sat at a nearby table and loaded skewers with veg and meat for a barbecued bunch.

Sonic lounged in a hammock nearby while minor construction went on.

"Done," Xaun said as he finished the installation of Knuckles and Jules front doors.

"Now no one else can make that dumb 'I had to say _knock knock_ because you don't have a door' joke, ever again," Jules said with pride as Xaun demonstrated a functioning front door.

Sonic sat up, "Who made that joke?"

"Dixon," she said.

"He would," Sonic scoffed and laid back down.

Xaun pat the heavy wooden frame and gave a proud smile. "These suckers are solid oak. Draft proof and leak proof. In case the wind blows the waves up to the door, I double lined the weather stripping."

"Nice. Does that mean it'll keep the air conditioning in during the hot season," Knuckles asked from the nearby fire pit he'd kindled together in the sand.

Xaun suddenly looked exhausted, "It gets hotter than this?" He got a solemn nod from the group. He looked to the heavens for strength. "Aurora, save me. Yes; if it doesn't melt first."

"Fourty-seven degrees isn't hot enough to melt plastic," Tails assured them absentmindedly as he worked diligently.

"That's a relief," Knuckles said. He went over and examined Tails contraption. "This shakey thing pickin up any shakey stuff?"

"Nothing yet. If it wasn't for me bumping the table earlier, this needle wouldn't have moved an inch," he said with a sigh.

Cream rotated her ears and listened for sounds. "I can hear something moving around and making noise. Why isn't it picking it up at all?"

"There's a posibility it's lava chambers." Tails drew a quick diagram on a notebook he pulled from his toolbelt. "We're in a location with lots of volcanic activity. These large pools of underground lava cool and harden, but not all at once. Sometimes a long narrow chamber forms where lava can flow freely. They can stretch for kilometres. If Eggman's drilling around them, it could be the lava shifting and that's what we're all hearing. If it's that, we're fine..." He trailed off.

"...and if it's not that...what," Julie-Su rotated a hand to further the explaination.

"If not, then it's sizemic activity and we're in for an earthquake, or a volcanic erruption, or a tunami. Heck, if we're lucky, a combination of all three." Tails blandly said as he adjusted knobs.

"You say that so casually," Xaun wasn't thrilled. "Why did I come here? Why am I choosing to stay in this deathtrap of an island?" He briefly questioned his motives until he got a message from Staci. "Right. Rebellion."

"About that," Sonic sat up again. "How are the twins today?"

Xaun nodded. "Anne's hanging out with the girls and learning how to work at the daycare. Rolph borrowed a bit of cash from Eggman and he's at 'Velvet Sands' for the day."

"So much for healthy coping habits," Sonic laughed ruefully. "Either way; good job on getting the chaos tech back from Egghead. How'd you guys swing that?"

Xaun smirked, "We got lucky. It wasn't even in the lair anymore. The fleet of ships hovering around the lair were planning on shipping everything back to the Iron Kingdom tomorrow. We cleared them out and then some."

Sonic looked frustrated as he sat up in the hammock and put his feet on the ground. "The Lightening Bolts were only supposed to get the tech and nothing else. What did you guys take?"

He threw his arms in the air. "I got nothing. Two of the girls went into the main base and took a bunch of jewlery. That's all."

"Whatever," Sonic held his hands up and swatted them downward. "Maybe they won't notice until it's too late."

Over at Eggman's, the Doctor stormed through his hallways. "Where did you put all of it Snively!?"

Snively struggled to keep pace with his uncle's gait. "I told you I have no idea about any 'chaos technology'! We haven't taken anything of yours!"

"Then why is my bank balance so much lower than it was two days ago?!"

"We've been ordering furniture to make it livable for you. This place looks like a prison," he said with feigned superiority.

He whipped around and poked a finger on Snively's heafty nose. "You were trying to sabotoge my surgery so it'd take longer than a day, so you could make off with my chaos tech! I'm not an idiot!"

"No we weren't!" He lied.

"It's why you blacked out some of my cameras! You were trying to gain control of my base and start an arms trade with Duchad!" He assumed a second possibility.

"No!" He lied again.

"Fine then! It was both!" He swung a fist and popped Snively in the eye. "When killing them doesn't work, steal from them instead! Am I right?!"

The short man went sprawling on the floor. He held the injured optic nerve. "No! You can't go in there!" Snively yelled as Eggman put a pilfered code into the number pad that opened the door to the Iron Kingdom's fleet. "Stop!"

He went out onto the catwalk to access the hovering airship the Iron Kingdom's representatives arrived on. "Why's that? Something to hide?" He approached the door to the ship's cargo level.

"No!" A third lie. "Those ships belong to the Iron King. Civilians aren't allowed on them!"

Eggman ignored his nephew. The large green iron door slid to the side and revealed a short mostly rusty coloured hallway with six rooms on either side. A robotic guard held post at every second entrance. Metal grating stairs, coloured the same as the green door, led up to the second level and beyond. His search began.

"Guards!" Snively yelled as Eggman went into each room and scoured them without interruption. "What are you doing? Do something! Anything!"

The guards stood there. Two armed guards offered a glance to one another and shrugged. They continued to stand around while Eggman looked for his stolen technology.

At the end of it, Eggman huffed and folded his arms in frustration. He walked back to the entrance where Snively sat. He glared at him and saw a defeated expression, along with an ice pack. "This was the only ship it could have been on...I guess I owe you an apology."

Snively looked shocked. He went along with it. "I-I told you we didn't take anything. I understand we're all under a lot of stress right now. I'll talk to the king about this little indescression of yours and see if he'll look the other way. If the Iron King thinks you were trying to 'out' a traitor, he'll be...okay with you doing this," Snively hesitated with what he said.

Eggman pretended to not notice. "He better." He stormed back off into his lair.

Snively went to the upper most level of the lair and to his wife's side. "My dear, I've got some bad news."

Regina was the same as Eggman in her search for lost items. "I lost so much to these rats!" She searched through all her luggage for her bracelettes and earrings.

Snively laid his icepack down and revealed a black eye. "What was that, dear?"

She contained her rage and immedately went to his side. Regina examined her husband's puffy eye. "Did one of these animals do this to you?!" she asked and took his hands in hers.

"No. Uncle and I had a bit of a falling out. I think everything's okay, but...all the chaos tech we moved from the lair is missing. I played it up like it wasn't supposed to be there, but it's gone, dear."

Her eyes widened in anger. "As is my new necklace and your father's old gold chain! That lewd bat took them, I bet!"

"It was hers to begin wit-I-I told you, the walls have ears. You can't speak of Shadow or Rouge so harshly. We're safe in this room, but keep that fact in mind." Snively grit his teeth. "We need to cut our losses and leave this place on schedule."

Regina pouted and folded her arms, turned and walked away. "I wanted this island so badly."

"We'll get you an island. I'm afraid this place is a wash."

"Father isn't going to be pleased." She reapproached and hugged her husband close again. The catalogue she'd ordered furniture from sat on the nearby dresser. Mid embrace, she slid the thick magazine off the top and into a nearby bin. "What happened to sabotoging the surgery?" She distanced herself and sat at her vanity.

Snively placed the icepack over his eye once again, "I tried everything! He had failsafe after failsafe set up. Clearly, his oafishness was a ruse to catch us off guard. I'm certain of that, now." He shook his head quickly, "I want to stay and find out who took the tech but it would seem too suspicious. We'll return to the Iron Kingdom, report our findings and keep my uncle at arm's length, for now."

At Sonic and Amy's, Rouge and Shadow finished the last few piles of documents. More accurately, Shadow finsihed the documents while Rouge read romance novel after romance novel from Amy's stash(collection).

Shadow saw many more scribblers on the table that day than the day before. "These weren't in the pile, were they?" He spoke to Rouge over his shoulder.

She sipped a wine glass of red liquid as she read a purple coiled scribbler. "I finished the book last night and it said 'to be continued'. I had to see if she continued it." Rouge waggled her wrist and the book she held bobbed back and forth. "I found the sequel...along with a few others."

"You're supposed to be working," Shadow said with annoyance.

"What? We're practically done."

He turned around and leaned over the back of the couch. "Is that wine?" he asked as he finally noticed what state she was in.

Rouge had all the pillows and couch cushions in the house piled near the air conditioner. She sat atop them as she read and drank, what appeared to be, wine.

"How do you want to drink after the other night?"

She toasted to him, "It's cranberry juice."

"Really?"

"Of course, darling. I wanted to be fancy."

Shadow sat back down with a huff.

"There's no need to be anxious. We've gotten more than enough information from these papers and files than we anticipated. Between Amy's cryptic messages and the actual info on the documents, we've gained so much more insight." Rouge sat upright. "Did you give your report to the colonel yet?"

Shadow shook his head.

"Why not?"

He hesitated, "...can we trust the military?"

Rouge got up and rounded the couch. She sat down next to him. "Why are you questioning it now?"

Shadow shook his head again. "Not all of the military. Individuals may be informants to the Iron Kingdom. How else would Snively or his wife know about the tech we collected for Eggman? There's no way he'd let those kind of secrets slip willingly. Unless, no one informed them, and they discovered the hidden tech on their own."

Rouge held a out a hand, palm up, "Maybe Duchad told them. He could be trying to snub the doctor and cut a deal with the Iron Kingdom instead."

"All those posibilities are plausable." Shadow leaned forward on his knees. "We need to find out for sure."

Rouge brightened up. "Why not ask private Walker if he's heard anything? He's good to keep an ear out for shady dealings."

"Why? Afraid he'll miss out on something," Shadow snarked.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, ha-ha. You don't need to be mean." She pulled out her personal phone and made the call.

" _Yo_ , _what's up, girl_ ," he casually said over the line.

"Private Walker, do you have a moment?" Rouge asked.

" _Why are ya callin my personal line for work stuff? Or you're being weirdly formal. What's the deal?_ " he questioned with slight annoyance.

She became defensive. "We believe the military may be _dealing_ with a mole." She backed down verbally. "I figured you'd be a trustworthy souce, since I know how much you dislike Duchad and his whole regime."

He spat. " _Damn fat-cat, asshole thinks he can run the country like a factory. People aren't fodder, dude! Sure. What do you need from me, babe?_ "

"We think there's someone on the inside who could be feeding information to the Iron Kingdom. You and a select few know about our mission here, so see what they have going on." She gave him a list of names. "Those are the only people aware of our mission to Seaside Island."

He muttered as she spoke to him, which signaled he wrote things on paper.

"When you find out anything, if there's anything to be found out, only use your personal line to contact us about this."

" _Yea, I suppose,_ " he said distantly.

"Hmm? Are you busy? You seem distracted." She put a fist on her hip.

" _Nah, everything's good. It's just...seein your number and ya callin me up on my personal line, while I'm off duty...I dunno, got my hopes up. I guess._ "

Rouge sighed. "What? Thought I was planning on flying back into your arms? I told you we were done, darling."

" _Come on babe, I know I screwed up._ "

"Humph. That's putting it lightly. Twenty five years of manditory military is a huge turnoff, dear."

" _I'm sorry!"_ He pleaded, " _Give me another chance. I've been working on a way to fake our own deaths and start fresh in the Kingdom of Acorn._ "

"I don't think so," she said with disinterest.

" _Fine, fine. We're done. I accept that. At the very least, could I ask a favour from ya?_ " he said solemly.

"I can spare a favour. What is it?" Rouge asked politely.

" _Talk me off, one last time?_ " he asked with a serious tone.

"Oh my god, seriously?" Rouge facepalmed.

"Private Walker, I can hear you," Shadow said blankly.

Nervous laughter came over the speaker. " _Sorry, sir! Won't happen again, Major Sir."_ He cringed. _"You couldda said he was with you, geez."_ He made a throat clearing noise and spoke quieter, "... _three minutes. It's all I need, babe._ "

Rough huffed in an exadurated way, "You're impossible! Do it yourself!" she raised her voice into the phone.

" _I'm gonna be thinkin of you the whole time,"_ he laughed and hung up the call.

"What a perv," Rouge said with a slight smirk as she put her phone away.

"To think, you let that catch get away." Shadow huffed out a single laugh.

"I knew the relationship would never last. At the time, we made a good team," she said and folded her arms. "You know...until you had us arrested."

"I'm baffled why you'd stick around him so long in the first place," Shadow asked as he laid his head on and over the back of the couch.

"He was fun. Handsome. Had a good sense of humor. And I always did find men with peircings attractive," she said and took up the opposite end of the couch Shadow was on. She kneeled down on the cushion and crawled toward him. She whispered when she got close, "Plus, the man could eat pussy like a fiend."

Shadow felt a pang of eletricity from head to toe. Her words were like his rings and stunned him momentarily.

"We're done with work, we have our own guy on the inside to watch for traitors and the resident superhero team is down on the beach for brunch. We have time to mess around."

Shadow smirked. "I suppose."

Rouge strattled him as she did the night they arrived on the island.

Shadow looked to his left at Amy, barely visible through the curtains. "At least she won't be able to hear or see anything this time."

Rouge kissed him deeply and then took his face in her hands. "I'm going to pretend she can," she said with a wide smirk.

The two enjoyed one anothers company once again, on the same couch.

* * *

Aww, workplace romances are cute and confusing ;D


	94. Chapter 94: Tell All

When it come down to it, imagine the **thickest** Antonio Banderas accent you can. You'll see when you get there. I don't know why, but picturing this voice on this character make me weak XD

* * *

 **-Chapter 94: Tell All-**

* * *

Sonic opened his front door and he and Knuckles were met with an unexpected sight. Across the sea of papers, near his air conditioner, he saw Shadow and Rouge asleep amidst a mountain of cushions. "Sooo, I take it you finished early."

Rouge, half awake, started a near silent giggle and it crescendoed to a semi-audible, devious laugh. She used the muscle tension in her demure laugh to upright body to her feet. A few quick hand motions and she corrected her hair. "Not early. Sooner than we'd anticipated though." Rouge smirked. She gave Shadow a nudge with her foot, woke him, then walked around the couch and sat. She checked her personal phone line for activity.

Sonic and Knuckles gave each other a coy glance.

Shadow sat up with a yawn, unaware of the innuendo made at his expense. He quickly realized where he was. "Finally, you're back." He stood up and straightened his quills. "Gather your team and get Chaotix on the line. We have a report to give. Best we get everyone up to speed at the same time."

"Let's head over to Tails place. He has a scrambler to completely protect our conversation." Sonic grabbed a duffel bag from the closet that contained the first batch of chaos tech that Amy retrieved from Dr. Eggman.

Shadow nodded.

Team Sonic, Cream and Vector gathered at Tails workshop. They video called the remaining members of Chaotix. Tails showcased the new three foot screen he built after Cream's test call with her mother. "It uses the Ulexite scrambler is the best to transmit data without detection. This baby right here, is the safest screen on the whole island."

Vector dialed the office's number for them and it rang. Soon after, Mighty the armadillo, Charmy the bee, and the two newest members of Chaotix, Ray the flying squirrel and Espio the chameleon came on screen. They sat in a conference room setting with various papers scattered about the table. The lighting was dim but the daylight through the window brightly lit the rest of the area. A construction site was viewable out the office window. The makings of a new building could be seen a short distance from where they were.

Before a word was said, a heavy knock sounded from the door.

Tails checked the screen and saw the newest guest. "Hey, Rolph, come in," he said loudly and buzzed the lock.

The guy entered with a distraught expression. "I know I'm interrupting, but this is really important, I can't sit on this kind of info."

Sonic gave the others a quick glance and saw interest in them all.

Shadow was especially intrigued and said, "As long as you end it all by telling us what the hell your eye does."

Sonic buffered with gentle language, "That feels fair; we've been scratching our heads over it."

Rolph tilted his eyebrows downward in confusion. He quickly remembered he used his ability the previous night. "I can do that. Cuz what I'm about to tell ya, I kind of have to anyway." He folded his arms. "After last night, Anne and I needed to find out more. I stole a glance at Dr. Robo-rather, Dr. Eggman, when I borrowed a bit of money this morning. Told him I was heading to the beach to gamble. He's a gamblin man, so that won his favour. After I doubled my money, I went back to repay him, and to look around a bit more. He didn't let me out of his sight so I told him I left my ankle rings in the lab from the night before, and if I could go get them. While I was in there, I tried to look around again. I don't think he knows I was using my sight, as I sneakily peered out the side of this thing," he said and pointed to his eye patch. "Do you all know what a dimensional tesseract is?"

The group collectively said 'no' except for two 'yes's' from Tails and Shadow, one 'maybe' from Julie-Su and half of a drawn out 'what' from Vector.

Rolph facepalmed. "Okay, fucking scratch that, I'm not explaining it beyond...basically, my eye can see shit forward and backwards. It can see possibilities and intentions. I can even detect illness. With my sister, I can transfer the information via touch and she can create a cure for whatever the ailment is with her stinger." He hooked his finger in the shape of the end of Anne's four foot long tail.

The group on the screen took notes while the rest present listened.

Sticks was the first to pop a question. "Why cover that up? You not only have eyes in the back of your head, it's like you got eyes on the tips of your fingers too!" She wiggled her finger tips in his direction.

He furrowed his brow. "I don't want to know everything. I don't want to know when my friends and family die; or when I die, for that matter. Burdening myself with knowledge of someone's impending terminal illness also sucks, especially if Anne can't cure it. She can't fix genetic stuff." Rolph gathered his thoughts. "Anyway, what I saw in the lab was disturbing. He's using nano-technology on his own body. He's got surveillance all over the village that uses the same nano-tech he tole from Project Shadow. He tried his damndest to turn me and my sister against you, too," he said and pointed to Sonic.

"And here I thought we were cool," Sonic said with disappointment then quickly realized at about the same time as everyone else. "Wait, you talked to Eggman last night and borrowed money from him today?"

Rolph nodded.

"Hold the phone," Knuckles spoke up. "Isn't he supposed to be in surgery?"

Rolph nodded again. "He lied about the timeline of his procedure so he could catch his nephew causing trouble for him; also, to spy on everyone who went into his base when they thought he wasn't looking. Everyone is being watched; when I say everyone, I mean literally every single person in this village and the little GooBa...BoGaGa, what are they called, tribe." He couldn't recall the name he'd seen.

"GoGoBa," Shadow said.

"Yeah, those assholes," Rolph said with a finger snap. "He's got tabs on em all. No clue why." Rolph leaned on a nearby table as he was listened to. He shrugged, "I couldn't see much with the angle I had, but he's got a robot that used to be a person, frozen in stasis in his first level lab." He looked to Sonic. "He looked like you."

"I bet that was Metal Sonic; and you're saying he's a real guy originally?" Sonic questioned.

Shadow huffed. He took the burlap bag from Rouge with all their stuff in it and grabbed a clutch of papers. "I'll add that to the pile of shit we need to clear up."

"I'm interested to know how he managed that," Tails asked next. "He's not the 'bio-tech' kind of mad scientist; more of a 'science amplified with magical elements' kind of maverick."

Rolph huffed a quick laugh. "Finally, he's got a fake master emerald." That name caught everyone's attention in a bold way. "He showed me and Anne this big old, glowing, green, rock attached to some electrical 'whatevers'. I didn't get the best look at it, but from what I could see, it's not powering anything that he said it was. It looks to be for show."

Shadow grumbled and furiously flipped through sheets. He filled in blanks and connected dots that he'd previously left unconnected.

Rolph turned to Sonic, "I gotta be honest...you frighten me."

"Me? How?" Sonic looked hurt by the accusation.

"It's that wereform you have. Or, what, you got two of em? Can you control either?" Rolph folded his arms tighter. "I gotta see if you'll hurt me or my sister...okay? I can't _not_ know something like that."

Sonic held his arms out at the side and gave him a classic wide smile. "I know I don't want to hurt you. Go ahead."

"I know _you_ won't," he said and flipped his black leather patch up and gave Sonic a solid look over. With a slightly terrified expression he flipped the patch down quickly. "Interesting...I see...I can help."

"You and Anne can cure this?" Sonic brightened up.

"Not quite. You were planning on looking all over the island for the temple that this curse originated from, right?"

Shadow spoke up, "I was going to teleport when the time came."

Rolph nodded. "I looked forward and saw which one was the correct one. Get a pen, I'll mark down the coordinates." He recorded on the papers that contained Shadow and Rouge's handiwork.

"That saves us a lot of trouble. Thank you Rolph." Sonic sat in a nearby chair. "To clarify, I can control the one I turn into on a nightly basis. The one brought on by anger or the new moon is a bit shaky."

"I'll keep that in mind," Rolph said and sighed in relief.

"What did you see when you looked at us last night?" Tails asked.

"Not to be cheesy, but I saw that you're all good people from all kinds of walks of life. I didn't look for long so I didn't see much, I didn't need to," Rolph said with a warm smile.

Cream cooed with a sweet 'aww'.

"If anything else comes up, keep in touch," Shadow requested.

Rolph let out a breath of relief. "I'm so glad I got that off my chest. I'm feeling generous," he said and took a piece of paper from the table. He wrote a short note and handed it to Tails. He pointed a finger at the guy, "Not a minute later." Rolph stood up straight. "That's all I got. Now, I'm off to the beach to sip from cups that look like coconuts while I take dealers money away from them while I flirt with the bus boy. Tootles." Rolph left and headed back to the beach for supper and more blackjack he clearly cheated at to win.

Tails read the note. "...I can do this." He pocketed the message.

"Next order of business," Shadow looked at his papers. "That...covered quite a bit of it...actually." He tossed the papers he no longer needed on the table. He came to one they hadn't touched on. "The only big thing left is 'corruption at town hall."

"Corruption in town hall?" Espio finally spoke in his refined Spanish accent. "I want to talk about this Rolph character. How do we know his words aren't false? How do you measure the ability to see future events?"

Tails said, "Right here." He pat the spot in his tool belt he put the note. "I guess he saw us doubting him and thought we needed proof. I'll let you all know if the note comes true."

Shadow nodded, "We'll set the worry about him aside for now."

"Right on," Sonic said. "Next thing on the agenda: Why is town hall stifling business? They've got Shadow and Rouge hunting for minerals and they're trying to make more of the land unlivable with mining sanctions. What's the deal?"

Once again, Espio spoke up, "Sovereignty."

Shadow's face went blank. "Excuse me?"

Espio grabbed a file from a desk off camera and opened it. "The royal family is thinking about granting sovereignty to Seaside Island and the surrounding archipelago. That knowledge hasn't been made public as of yet, so be chaste in your words. We haven't confirmed if he's decided or not."

Charmy spoke next, "We did a bit of spying to make sure no one in the O'Hedge family was cutting shady deals with anyone overseas. We stumbled on Kind Rob O'Hedge himself saying he was considering it."

Knuckles waved a hand in the air, "Quick question: What is Sovern Tea? Is it bad tea? Is that why he wants to get rid of it?"

He got a chuckle from the group.

Tails explained, "It's all one word, Knuckles. Sovereignty is when a place becomes a kingdom of it's own with a new ruling king and queen."

" _Kill me_ ," Shadow muttered, unheard by all but Rouge and Cream.

He absorbed the information. "Someone new will be in charge? Do we do that democratically, or do we draw names out of a hat?" Knuckles asked another breathtaking question.

" _Seriously, get a big robot, step on me, kill me now,_ " Shadow continued to be distraught.

Tails was thoughtful, "Hmm, I think the royal family picks from their linage. So a duke or an earl would be assigned to become the new king."

Knuckles looked offended. "Well that's sexist. What if a Susan or a Lara wanted to become queen? Or other guys names? Like, Knuckles, or Jay, or," he said and Rouge cut him off.

"Or Maurice," she said jokingly.

Tails and Sonic were stunned.

Rouge didn't expect a reaction. "Just throwing out a name, darling. Trying to be part of the conversation," she said and pulled a pocket mirror from her bag and reapplied some powder.

Jules spoke up, "No, no, Knuckie, duke and earl are titles given to royal family members directly related to the king. They're in charge of different things in the kingdom. They basically function as the government."

Knuckles folded his arms. "That still doesn't seem fair. Unfair and rude; if I could be Frank...I'd do a good job," he said and paused.

" _Nothing is fair_ ," Shadow lamented.

"...do you just want to be named 'Frank', Knuckles," Tails asked.

"If they'll let me be king, yeah," he said and got a laugh from the room.

" _Try knocking up a royal. It worked for that idiot_ ," Shadow snarked, still unnoticed but for Cream and Rouge. Before he could say anything, Sonic chimed in.

"If I was king, I'd definitely declare a 'free chili dog day'," he said with conviction.

Shadow snapped, "Of course you would!" He yelled at the ceiling and stunned all in the room and on the screen. He continued. "My guess is that they want to sell the land to the new king, rather than locals who can't pay the higher prices. It also saves them a lot of paperwork in the long run."

Sonic pondered the notion. "Paperwork does really suck. Especially when it takes up fifty percent of your living room."

"It'll be moved tomorrow when the Iron Kingdom is long gone," Shadow assured him.

They finished their talking points and the meeting ended later than expected. It was dark when Tails next looked at the note in his pocket. He gulped and ignored it and what it could have possibly meant.

The project he and Cream worked on for the last couple days was finished. It was a small square bed, with a light blue painted frame sat atop the workbench. Some of the fabric Cream's sister BG gave her made a fluffy mattress of blue and a small yellow crescent moon shaped pillow.

Cream placed cheese in the small bed. She clasped her hands together. "It's adorable." She turned around and gave him a hug. "Thank you."

Tails blushed. "No problem. I had a lot of fun helping you make it."

Cream held the hug a bit longer than normal before she let go. "I know you're used to working with machines all the time. I'm happy this didn't bore you."

He gave her a smile. "I think that's why I had fun. I got to use my analog tools for the carved frame. I actually started out using woodworking tools before I got into the high-tech stuff." As he pulled away from the embrace his glove took her ear with it. "Oops, sorry," he said and carefully laid her ear behind her again.

Cream looked up at him and their eyes locked.

"Your ear is really soft," he said with nervousness.

She blushed and smiled shyly, "Kind of like your tails," she said and was drawn into another hug. She felt Tails tails on either side of her contributed to the hug.

Finally, with enough courage built up, Tails leaned in and kissed Cream deeply.

She was shocked but returned the gesture.

After their first kiss ended, Cream couldn't help but snicker a little.

"What's so funny?" he asked, also smirking and unaware why.

She looked up at him, "Was that what was on the note?"

Tails shook his head. "That's what I thought too." He showed her the note, "Take Cream home and be at her door at exactly eight minutes to the hour."

"That's almost a half hour later than normal." Cream gave it thought, "Maybe knowing your future means it's subject to change," she gasped, "Unless that kiss wasn't it." She got sparkly eyed and held her cheeks. "Like a shooting star or ball lightening. If it's one of those, I'd have two super special events in one night."

"Aw," He blushed. "Those are oddly specific," Tails said and placed the note back in his pocket. "We've got an extra twenty minutes. Want to get a green tea before bed?"

She nodded happily.

Shortly after, they enjoyed the smell of percolating tea at Tails home. The time came to walk home.

On the way there, it started to drizzle. "I got this," Tails said and activated a button on his wrist communicator. A yellow shield of lightening swirled above them.

The drizzle went from a sprinkling to a downpour in no time. By the time they were at Cream's front door, their shoes were drenched.

"Was it the rain?" Tails asked as they took shelter under the eve of Cream's home.

Cream's eyes widened in fear. "I know what it is!"

"What?" Tails was shocked.

She looked him in the eyes and with a monotone voice, "Thunder."

Tails returned her expression of dismay. He looked at his watch. "Less than a minute."

"You won't get home in time," Cream said and opened the front door. "Come in and wait it out."

Cream's family was already in bed, save for BG, who was in the kitchen to witness her sister sneak a boy into the house after hours. They quickly ran by the door and into her room for what BG thought was something other than to hide from the giant clap of thunder that sounded over head only seconds later.

BG went to her room and gave Staci a very brief and excited phone call. "She finally did it, she snuck him in. You owe me five bucks."

* * *

XD


	95. Chapter 95: Fall into Place

For once I had a legit reason for posting so late! I fell at work and caught myself on the last three fingers on my left hand and badly sprained my ring finger. So I had my ring and middle fingers taped together for a week! X.X

It made counting change difficult and I couldn't lift anything heavy, but I managed.

All is well now, so well that I'm working on a side project. I have most of the outline done now. Heh, not gonna do to the new story what I did to this one and have it go on for a fucking eternity. ;P

It's about Hugh and what happened before he ended up in this story here. I'll post it in a month or so. I really want to finish this story and promptly rewrite the first dozen chapters and touch up a few other things.

Now that I know what's actually going on in my own universe, it'll be easier to frame things.

Anyhoo, enough babbling. On with the show.

* * *

 **-Chapter 95: Fall into Place-**

* * *

Tails alarm went off and stirred he and Cream. "Shoot. I knew I'd fall asleep." Her heavy blankets and comfortable bed were too welcoming to leave.

"My window is on the dark side of the house. You should be able to leave unnoticed," Cream sleepily said. She smiled warmly as Tails gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"I got a lot to do today, want to meet up for supper?"

"Oki-doki," she said sleepily and dozed right back off.

Tails quietly opened the window and slipped outside. Along the way, he dropped his phone out of an open belt pocket. It clattered on the floor. "Oops," he said and leaned back in the window. No sooner had he picked the device up that Cream's father, Loki, entered her room after he heard a strange noise.

"Oy! What the hell do you think you're doing!" He had a thick English accent, "Get out of my daughter's room!" He quickly approached the window and gave chase. Tails bolted. Loki busted the frame of the window as he took after the supposed snoop.

Cream sat up briefly, didn't react to the hole in her windoww and then laid right back down, out cold.

Tails quickly took off and hid on the roof of a nearby building. Loki had lost him. "The cloak of night assists me well."

His ears perked up. "There you are!" Loki said as he leapt straight onto the roof next to him.

Tails scrambled away in time. "Right, rabbits are nocturnal and have really good hearing!" He quickly reached for his hover board, mounted it and hightailed it to his closest friend's house, Sonic and Amy's.

Loki gave chase. "You bloody little minge splinter! Get back here!"

With a spare key he kept on his person, he let himself in and locked the door behind him.

Seconds later, Loki pounded on the door. "Sonic! Haul your arse out of bed! You're harboring a little perv!"

Shadow sat up on the couch he and Rouge slept on. "One night of undisturbed sleep, is it so much to ask?" he groggily said and rubbed sleep from his eyes. Rouge rolled off of him as he sat up.

A werehogged Sonic came out of his bedroom, "What's going on?"

Loki spoke through the door, "I caught some mangy prick sneaking into my daughter's room! He's hold up in your house, as I speak!"

Tails spoke loudly, "I wasn't sneaking in! I was sneaking out!"

Sonic facepalmed. "Not the right thing to say, good buddy."

Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose, "I thought you were the smart one."

Rouge could only laugh.

"You open this door now or I'll bust it and you to a bloody pulp. And I mean that metaphorically and literally!" He laid a final fist on the door.

"Okay, chill, chill!" Sonic gave in and stretched an arm over the piles of files and opened his door. "I can't afford to replace the door. Sorry, buddy."

"It's alright. I'll face my fate." He met Loki face to chest.

Loki was a light blue and white, giant European lop rabbit. He towered above Tails and loudly cracked all his knuckles. With the higher angle, he noticed the dual tails the assailant had. "..." Loki froze in place. "You, uh, have two tails?"

Tails also froze in place, but for other reasons. "Yes."

Loki leaned down and sighed, "You're Tails? As in, Miles 'Tails' Prower."

"Yes." He felt impending doom slowly shift.

He blandly said, "Son of Commander Amadeus Prower and Rosemary Prower, current CEO of Prower industries? That Miles Prower?"

"That is me. Yes. I am him, Tails," he nervously said.

Loki's mood immediately shifted, "You know what? Let's forget all about this little incident. Shall we?"

"Um," Tails was stunned.

"Heh, sorry I didn't recognize you sooner, Mr. Prower. I really hope this doesn't affect the relationship our two families have. It's bad for business to have bad blood between us, you hear what I'm saying?" He nervously scratched the back of his head.

"That would be bad for business, yes," Tails was still in shock. "All is forgiven."

Loki clasped his hands together and nodded thankfully, "Thank you, sir. So we're clear, you're welcomed to spend the night whenever you want. Honestly, I didn't think my youngest had it in her. I'm glad she's not resigned to be a nun."

Tails furiously blushed, "N-nothing happened, honest."

Loki held up a hand, "Bup-bup, it's alright. Sorry to bother you all so early in the morning, folks. Cheers," he said and waved goodbye and let himself out.

Sonic had a wide smile. He pat his friend's shoulder, "You got Mister'ed and Sir'ed all at once. How's it feel to get older?"

"Stressful," he said and flopped on the couch. He rubbed his face with both hands.

Sonic sat across from his relieved friend. He still grinned widely.

Tails finally looked up, "What's so funny?"

"What were you doin' in Cream's room, Tails," he said slyly.

Tails blushed again, "Nothing happened."

"Not what I asked, bro." Sonic caught him in a slip of the mind.

Tails folded his arms. "We got caught in the storm last night and I waited it out at her place. I dozed off. That's all."

Sonic smirked and folded his arms. "Come on, you can tell Papa-Sonic the truth," he said in a consoling way.

He groaned. "Fine. We kissed, _that's_ all."

"AH-HA! I knew it!" Sonic said with pride. "That's my boy! He's got brains, clout and the ladies."

"Anyway," Tails changed the subject. "While I'm here I should let you know: I got the TV up and running in my workshop. We can watch broadcasts from the mainland now."

"Awesome."

"Do you know what happens today?" Tails asked.

Nothing came to Sonic's mind. He shrugged.

"The debate between Jami and the state," Shadow said from the kitchen where he waited for coffee to finish brewing.

"How do you know that?" Sonic asked.

"It's called the radio. Keep up to date, would you?" Shadow retorted.

"Are you still going to talk to town hall today?" Rouge asked.

Sonic nodded. "I need to know about this whole 'sovereignty' thing. If they know about it, that'll explain a whole lot. Honestly, when Amy's up and running again, she'll probably help do the extra paperwork for them."

Shadow groaned as he poured himself a cup of black coffee.

"What's your damage? We can go back to sleep for another hour if you're tired," he said with a yawn.

Tails also yawned, "I can't argue with you there."

Shadow slapped a hand down on the counter. "This is insufferable." He went over and sat next to Tails, across from Sonic. "Have you met any of Amy's family?"

Sonic was caught off guard by the seemingly innocuous question. "Not really. She doesn't keep close contact with her folks. Oh right, I did meet her cousin Robert once. Nice guy. Talks kind of funny though. He's a skilled archer. Reeeeeally liked to put whiskey away. Don't remember much of the night."

"..."

"Why did you want to know that?"

Shadow sighed. "What does Robert do for a living?"

Sonic thought about it, "I think he said he owns land in the O'Hedge Kingdom."

Shadow sighed. "Think about it...Amy's cousin is a man named Robert who owns land in the Kingdom of O'Hedge, talks in regal tones and is a skilled archer. Tell me, did you catch his last name?"

Tails had caught on. "Is it...O'Hedge?"

"I knew you were the smart one." Shadow loudly sipped his coffee.

It all finally fell into place. Sonic went catatonic. With wide glaring eyes, he looked at his watch. "...they're two hours ahead of us. I think I can call. Yeah, I'll call."

"Calling the king on a personall line, first thing in the morning? Ballsy." Rouge said as she made her way to the source of the smell of coffee.

"I need to hear it from him." He let it ring.

A lively voice came on the line. " _Maurice, my good man. To what do I owe the pleasure?_ "

Sonic blurted out, "Robert, are you a king? If you're a king, you gotta tell me."

A warm chuckle came from the speaker. " _Ha ha, that I am._ "

Sonice began to panic. His voice was stuck in his throat. He struggled to draw a breath.

Shadow spoke up. "Congratulations, whiskey sponge, you broke him."

" _Have I been graced with the presence of Shadow the Hedgehog? Your personable demeanor adds yet another ray of sunshine to an otherwise dreary day._ " Rob said with a laugh.

"Fuck you. Don't make this asshole a king."

" _You must have ears in my walls. I was saving that revelation for our visit. And what, may I ask, makes you so sure your able to speak to a king with such disregard?_ "

"You don't have your crown on. You always say 'no crown, no business'. Since you answered your phone, I know you aren't working."

" _Astute as ever,_ " he said and laughed. " _Hold on a moment._ "

They heard shuffling.

"You aren't geting that crown, are you?!" Shadow snapped.

" _Possibly_."

Shadow let loose, "Your new main hall tapistry is god aweful and tacky. You laugh too loud when you drink. Your poker face sucks. You ramble when you tell stories! Get to the point already!"

" _Shadow...the crown is on,_ " he said solemnly.

"Your highness, with all due respect, I don't think any possible candidates you may have in mind for taking on the role of king, are ready for such a task," he spoke with upmost respect.

" _That's more like it. What makes you say that? Amy and Maurice have been flexing their abilities with town hall for years. This is a bit of a larger bag, but its a bag with handles that Amy is skilled at carrying. I have faith in their teamwork skills._ "

"Admirable teamwork skills aside, they've been doing this before they became parents."

" _What?!_ " Rob was shocked.

Sonic snapped to. "Woops, I was so caught up in this I forgot to mention that we werent telling Amy's family until they visited. Which, I guess would be next week, when the Kingdom of O'Hedge visits, which is you. The king. Amy's cousin, the king."

" _That does change a few things. Not much. More or less the timing. Where is Amy? We should all speak on this matter._ "

Shadow briefly explained the situation.

" _That is most troubling, indeed. I'm going to speak to my cabnit and see if they have recourse for us. I'll make contact as soon as I hear from them. If not by days end, I'll return with revisions on the morrow._ "

Shadow sighed in relief. "Thank you, sir."

" _One final matter before I depart. Tell me what you think of my hall tapistry, Shadow._ "

Without hesitation he said, "Breathtaking. Your taste in decorum is unrivaled, sir."

Rob laughed. " _Such kind and truer words remain unspoken. Good day everyone. And Maurice, relax. You're in skilled hands with my dear Rose at your side._ "

"Thank you, sir," he said nervously.

" _No need for formalities. We're family, after all. Take care,_ " he said and ended the call.

"...I don't want to be king." Sonic looked around the room to see faces that looked as discouraged as his own.

Shadow pointed to Amy still in the corner. "You need to take that up with the dutchess herself."

Sonic sighed.

Rouge noticed the sun was finally all the way up. "Shouldn't you have transformed back by now?"

Sonic shook his head. "Under this kind of stress? I'll be lucky if I ever revert back."

Shadow huffed. "Why don't we go to the coordinates Rolph gave us? Since you can't talk to town hall wile you look like that, we might as well get something done today."

"Sure. We'll do that." Sonic laid on his side on the couch and pulled his knees to his chest and held them in place.

* * *

Lulz, spooky king duties. XD


	96. Chapter 96: Lost and Isolated

Next up! XD

* * *

 **-Chapter 96: Lost and Isolated-**

* * *

With a single cleansing breath, Sonic calmed his anxiety driven transformation. He fully resumed his hedgehog form. "Aaa...thank you, Mina." He spoke into his wrist communicator.

' _What can I say: I love me some on the spot therapy,_ ' she said with a sleepy tone.

"Sorry to call so early," he said and rubbed the back of his neck. He realized after he dialed, that nine o'clock in the morning was still early for some.

' _It's never too early to deal with mental health what-not's,_ ' she said solemnly. ' _Call when you get back. We'll chit-chat a bit more. I want to talk to you about a project I've got in the mix too; a new music video idea._ '

Sonic perked up a bit. "Sounds like fun. We shouldn't be too long."

He, Shadow and Rouge set out to locate the source of the second transformation brought on by a new moon, rage or an unnamed red mineral.

"How we gonna do this?" Sonic asked as they left his home. "My hover bike is in the shop; I'm grounded for now, and Tails is tied up until later on today."

Shadow sighed. "I'm going to be generous," he said and closed the door behind them. "Rouge will fly you there. I'll follow along from below. Rouge can navigate better in the air than I can from the ground; and my jets can get me there without tiring me out or slowing me down."

Sonic pointed a single finger upward with both hands. "You plan to rocket through the jungle...to keep up with us in the air?" His fingers stayed extended as he processed the implication of flying through thick jungle plants at top speed.

"Correct." Shadow nodded.

"...if you say so." He went back into his and Amy's house and emerged with a pair of black goggles. "Tonic Concentration is storing a few things in our place until they set up shop. I know you can heal super fast and all, but taking some brambles to the eyes has gotta suck, regardless."

"Fair point." Shadow put the eyewear on and tested how it felt. He turned to Sonic and hesitated as he thought of a way to ask his question. "How much are these?"

"You can keep em for free. The stock we got is for advertising. You know, get the To-Co brand out there."

Shadow readjusted the goggles and felt the company's embossed emblem along the side. "The quickest way to get there is if we take the south river and follow it up until it bends. Then it's into the trees."

The three set out. Shadow traversed the brush and followed an airborne Rouge and Sonic as they flew above the jungle canopy. After nearly an hour of flight with only two pit stops for rest and recalibration, the three made it to a clearing. Rouge dropped her passenger from ten feet up. Sonic landed with ease and absorbed some of the fall with a hand down. Rouge's heels hit the ground next to him and went into the soil an inch. Her lost balance was steadied with a firm grip from Sonic's hand.

The two heard Shadow approach only moments later. He burst abruptly through the shrubbery and his jet shoes stopped him quickly. His quills were ultimately disheveled. A clutch of red and green burrs stuck to the back of one of his ears. With little effort, he dislodged them along with any other flora debris that clung to his fur. He took the goggles off and the few sticks they held to his head fell out of place.

"You do a flawless impression of Hugh; you know, pre-bath," Rouge jokingly said.

Shadow discretely spat a shard of leaf from his bottom lip. "I'm sure he would have enjoyed that trip a bit more than I did. I'm content in bending reality to my whim to get to where I need to go."

"That doesn't explain the motorcycle in your kitchen back home," Rouge said offhandedly.

"Is that why you wanted to keep the goggles?" Sonic said in surprise. "I don't know what's more shocking: The fact you own a motorcycle; or the fact you keep it in your kitchen."

Shadow folded his arms. "City folks aren't antiquated with the use of magic. Teleporting can disrupt their delicate sensibilities about time and space, so I use the bike to get around." He turned and faced the semi open plain. "I have a bachelor apartment. There isn't anywhere else to put it; and I refuse to pay the rental company's parking fees."

"That extra seventy-five must go a long way," Rouge commented.

"It's on principle," Shadow said.

"I never pictured you with a bachelor pad," Sonic added. "I figured you as more of a studio apartment or condo, kind of guy."

Shadow huffed, "Don't even get me started on condo fees. I have the apartment so I can get mail. I sleep and eat in the army barracks."

Sonic pondered, "Come to think of it, I assumed you still lived in the canyon up until recently."

Shadow, unamused, let his arms fall to his sides. He turned to face his rival. "You thought I lived in the desert this whole time?"

"Well, yeah. It's where Eggman always found you when he went looking for ya."

Shadow turned away from them completely and clenched his fists. "I did the majority of my training in the canyon! Did you ever think of that?"

"Not really. If you didn't live in the canyon, where did you stay while you lived on the island?" Sonic asked.

They all paused and allowed the query to percolate.

"..."

"You lived in the canyon, didn't you," Rouge asked.

Shadow huffed harsh then said, "...yes."

Rouge tapped a thoughtful finger on her chin. "Another similarity you share with your dear brother. You both actively lived in the middle of nowhere for an extended period of time."

"Except you're a lot dryer," Sonic snarked.

Shadow snapped a look at the two over his shoulder. "Can we get on with this?!"

Sonic quickly walked by and into the strange field. "No prob, gone, gotcha, uh, covered..." he said and took stock of what laid before him.

It was a squared clearing roughly a kilometer wide. It bore little foliage throughout. Random bald patches of grayish-brownish dirt littered the area. In between the muck, short grasses and half a dozen wiry trees with pinkish fruit wrangled the muddy mess into an odd sight. Scattered throughout the land were strange obelisks. Each was triangular and no more than knee high at their highest point. They didn't look to be in any specific order.

"Is this a graveyard?" Rouge asked as she approached a red triangle object from the air. She landed on it and gave it a tap with her foot. "It feels hollow."

"Let me see if I can identify the architecture," Shadow said as he examined one of the crests on the triangle nearest to him. He researched on his wrist communicator for answers and found nothing.

Sonic walked down a stretch of grassy spots that had tiny red flowers which collected in clutches of three or four and drooped down like a pea sized bell. Not far from the others, the mud swallowed his foot. It went in deep. "Ah! Dammit! I have no luck with shoes these days." After he freed the appendage, he slogged on in another direction. A few meters away, again, the same thing happened to his other foot. He couldn't pull it out as easily as the first. "Uh, a little help, I think I found quicksand," he said as he was no longer able to dislodge it.

Rouge flew to him. With a bit a strain, she pried him from the swamp.

"I wish Rolph would have given us some more info on this place. We have three echidna who could have dug through this in no time." Sonic kicked his leg directly away from the others, to remove mud and not splash them.

"It's not that simple for him," Shadow said as he read an article to himself.

"Is anything simple," he asked.

Shadow shook his head.

"Thought so."

"Hey, over here," Rouge said. She flew to them and picked Sonic up. Shadow jetted behind them. Rouge laid Sonic down on a large blue obelisk. It wasn't tall, but it had length.

Sonic saw the structure was over ten feet long and had visible, blue roof tiles. His eyes went wide. "Rouge, I think this may have been an unintentional graveyard. Shadow, look up Go'Maba Village."

He closed his device and nodded. "I'm familiar with it. Do you think this is the place?"

"What? I'm lost," Rouge said and folded her arms in confusion.

Sonic pointed to the thing they stood on, "So was Go'Maba Village. This is the roof of one of their houses."

Shadow added in, "They're a branch of-rather, _it was_ a branch of the Gogo'Ba village. It went missing nearly fifty years ago." Shadow looked around to see where a mudslide could have occurred. Hills in the distance looked to be the culprits.

"Come to think of it, when Sticks and Xaun were looking for books on this whole 'werehog' thing, they found a book about the full moon form in the Gogo'Ba village back home. Do the Gogo'Ba's know anything about this transformation? If that what Rolph wanted us to realize without saying so directly?"

"Possibly," Shadow said with a nod. "The question is: Who's going to get them to talk?"

Sonic raised an eyebrow, "Talk? They love talking; or they like hearing themselves talk. Either way, I've talked to them in the past."

"And do you love talking to them, darling?" Rouge asked with a palm raised to the heavens.

Sonic paused mid-thought, mouth half open. "Oh," he said with sever disdain and disinterest, "Well, it can't be me. I can feel the rage building and I'm only _thinking_ about talking to them." Sonic pointed to his pointed incisors.

Shadow panicked for a split second until he recalled the gems he held. Something suddenly crossed his sight. "We should leave."

Rouge pouted. "We just got here. I want to see if there's anything worth looting."

"I think this place had a lot of volcanic activity in recent days. Something caused the mudslide, buried this village and now volcanic gasses are escaping through the surface." Shadow pointed to an odd pile of mud that actually bubbled.

Rouge flew over to the simmering sludge. It was multi colored and had a sheen of rainbow in the late morning light. "I wonder if this is good for my skin. You know volcanic mud sells for really high prices."

Sonic scoffed, "Not as his as the price on my were'head if I have another freakout. We gotta leave it."

"Bother," she said and flew back to them. "There are a lot of red plants in the area. Maybe they absorb the mineral that causes the reaction. We should take a few back and see if Tails can make anything of it."

"That's a good assumption," Shadow looked around and saw a lot of the red pigment in plants and lichen alike.

Sonic's hands shook and his breathing intensified, "Yeah, we need to leave, now," he said and was grabbed by Shadow from behind, under his arms.

"I'll fly you two up high and you can glide back. We don't need to be as specific going back," Shadow said and got a nod from Sonic. Shadow launched them all upward at high speed. "I'll stay back here and look for information. Rolph obviously wanted us to know there was something important here. I might as well look for it."

"AH! You better not leave things behind!" Rouge said and waggled a finger at him.

"I'll bring you back something shiny! Okay!?" he shouted and tossed them further upwards when his jets overheated and he began to lose altitude.

"Thank you, darling!" she said and grabbed Sonic before he fell. Rouge tightened her wings and held them fast for a speedy glide home.

Shadow fell to the ground and indented it with a shallow crater from the force of his fall.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Sonic said as he tried to see the ground.

"Oh, yes, dear. He has a buffer for when he falls. It doesn't use the time portion of his magic, if you're wondering."

He shook his head. "What I'm wondering about is this motorcycle more than anything right now. You talk about it like you're surprised he has it, but you know it's there."

Rough laughed a bit. "It's not that he has it, it's that he says it's only for getting around."

"Isn't it?"

"Absolutely. We ride around on it all the time...but...if it's for practical use, why spend so much time building it?"

"He built it!?" Sonic wiggled and threw off their balance.

"Careful!"

"Sorry, sorry."

She realigned them. "Yes. He bought all the parts, built it from scratch and then detailed it himself. It's an impressive piece of machinery."

"It's a hog! Isn't it! Tell me Shadow has a chopper!" Sonic asked excitedly.

"You missed the boat on his apartment but you nailed down his transportation tastes."

"YES!" Sonic awkwardly poked his communicator. He dialed Tails. He was sent to voicemail. "Buddy! Guess what? Shadow not only owns a motorcycle, but he built it himself! Take it from there!" He ended the recording.

"What was all that about?" Rouge asked with a bit of a laugh.

"Tails is a bit nervous around Shadow. Having common ground to chat about should make it easier to get used to working together."

Rouge looked intrigued, "That could work."

"Kind of how like you and Amy bonded over her fantastic writing skills."

Rouge blushed.

"Yeah! I though it was weird you knew my middle name!"

"What?!" Rouge sounded incredulous, "I knew that from classified intel! I swear!"

Sonic waggled yet again, "Liar! Stop reading the porn my girlfriend writes about us!"

She laughed again, "Haha...no."

* * *

Heh, lolololol ;P


	97. Chapter 97: Fuzzy Details

K, I've been going through a bit of a depression lately. Just stuff and things, mostly chemical and or hormonal, but it's been putting a damper on my writing...and eating habits...and drinking habits...and spending habits...yeah, rough times. x.x

I'm doing okay now. Fingers crossed.

* * *

 **-Chapter 97: Fuzzy Details-**

* * *

Back at the house, Sonic came from his bathroom freshly showered. He towel dried his quills as he sat down on the couch across from his guest.

"Feeling better, I take it," Rouge said as she looked over the top of her reading material.

"Much better," he said and saw Rouge was back at it. "More research?"

"You know me: Always on the grind, darling." As she flipped the page, a hand reached out to take away her book. She moved the novel and read from a distance.

The two had a brief back and forth of grabbing, bobbing and weaving for the paperback. Rouge almost had the upper hand as she took flight. Sonic spin jumped over her. When she turned to see where he was, the naughty novel was kicked straight up and out of her hand. It flew into the air. With a savvy backflip, he caught the book mid air and landed with it in hand.

Rouge was amazed she was duped so quickly. "You're quick and tricky; no wonder Shadow says you could rival him in a fight," she said with folded arms and a half cocked smile as she resumed her seat.

"They don't call me 'Sonic' for no good reason. Gotta go fast." He flipped through the book he reacquired for _something_ in particular. His eyes scanned the pages meticulously.

Rouge sat back and relaxed one leg over the other. "Funny that they don't call you 'Maurice' though. What's with the moniker?"

Embarrassed, Sonic rubbed the back of his head. "My folks named me after my two grandfathers. No disrespect to any of them, but I felt I was best suited with a name that had more of a modern 'hero' ring to it instead."

"I suppose."

"Same for Tails. He felt 'Miles', as he said, was too proper and snooty. I gave him the name Tails and he gave me mine, Sonic. It's been like that since we were nine and three, respectively."

"Aww, that's actually very sweet," she said with a warm expression.

He looked somber. "When and if this sovereignty thing goes through, I may have to go by my actual name; maybe I'll split the cheek and call myself 'Sonic Maurice Hedgehog', for good measure."

She laughed a bit, "All about that branding, aren't you?"

"You know it," he said and folded the book open to the page Rouge read last. He handed it back to her. "Jules and Bernadette should have planned out their naming scheme for me a bit differently. Though, they both had old names too; maybe it's traditional to give your kids names they're destined to nic-name over."

"Jules?" Rouge said quietly as she looked thoughtful. She took back the homemade piece. "You don't care if I read this then?"

Sonic shook his head. "Go for it. I thought it was a different book."

Her wrist communicator vibrated. Private Walker had gotten back to her on her personal line. "Why would that matter?"

"B-because," he blushed and averted his gaze. "There's a story Amy wrote about us that actually happened. It's got a lot of stuff in it that's factual, and I'm not comfortable letting that knowledge go any further than the book it's written in."

Rouge's eyebrows raised. "...what if I already read it?"

Sonic smirked. "You didn't, because I know where the book is. I'm gonna get it and burn it the next time you head out. Or at least half a dozen pages in it. No sense in ruining the whole thing."

Rouge leaned closer and quietly said, "Now I _need_ to read it, darling."

Sonic leaned forward and whispered, "No you don't."

Rouge leaned even closer and took his face in her hands. "Yes, I absolutely do." She fluffed his face fuzz. "When was the last time you shaved? It doesn't look any longer than last night."

Sonic felt the beard that had plagued his face for days. "It stopped? How?!" Sonic ran to his bathroom and quickly fired up the clippers. Moments later, he came out with shortened facial hair. "Finallllllllyyyyy," he exaggerate as he felt the velvetyness of his cheeks. He paused in his celebration. "I'm getting the feeling this has to do with my Chaos Emerald. Let's wait till Shadow gets back before we draw any conclusions."

"You don't think he'll start growing a beard now?" Rouge thought out loud, "He's always cut to the quick. I'm starting to wonder if he ever has to shave at all."

Sonic pondered and tapped his chin with a curious finger. "I thought the beard thing was the interaction of the two wereforms coming together."

Rouge shrugged. "I doubt we can tell from the data left behind. From what I read, they only ever tested the wereforms on three subjects. Hugh, who has no side effect like that, Ophelia, who's unaccounted for, and Mex, who's very dead."

"Great." Sonic laid back on the couch and flopped his limbs over the edge on one side. "I'm kind of hoping it has to do with the emerald, we can always do a cleanse on it to reset it's energy to normal again." He yawned and placed a pillow over his face. "I'mma take a nap. I'm sure Shadow'll wake me up when he gets in."

Shadow didn't return to the house directly. After his messy encounter with a sunken village, he opted to shower at Eggman's lair, lest he risk exposing Sonic to some unseen trigger.

Orbot met him at the front entrance. "Shadow? To what do we owe the, uh, pleasure?" he greeted him warmly as the guest left muddy footprints in his stead.

Shadow looked beyond the robot and was shocked at the state of the lair. "What happened here? This was in shambles not even two days ago. Explain, now," he said with gritted teeth. His knee jerk reaction to be upset at his siblings for leaving out a vital piece of information quickly faded. He realized how disingenuous his reaction to the lair would have been, had he known what to expect. ' _Clever_.'

"Doctor Eggman's got slate replacements for all the wall and floor panels. Y-you know, in case of situations like fire, explosions, sink holes or...werewolf attacks."

"I see." He looked around and did his best to look impressed.

"You're looking a little more rugged than usual, sir. Would you like me to prepare measures for you to clean up?" He asked with politely folded hands.

Shadow nodded and slipped his shoes off to track less mud in. "If you could get the doctor to run these through a mineral bath, that would be appreciated."

Orbot took the muddy rocket shoes and held them at the back, where they were the least muddy. "C-certainly, ew, right away." He hovered off and held the shoes at a distance.

Shadow cleaned up in the same Shower stall he and Rouge had shared once. He contemplated his absolute need to tell the military about not only his fraternizing with a co-worker, but also the extent to which he had the ability to heal. ' _All this time I thought it was only my blood that had healing properties_.' He looked at the soap run off his hands and down into the drain. ' _How do my nano machines know what 'healthy' is for everyone? Can they heal things that shouldn't be healed? Like bacteria and fungus_ ,' he said and looked directly down into the drain, curious of the superbug he might have unknowingly created. ' _No...my abilities are curtailed to DNA respective to anthros and humans...but how can I even find out?_ '

He got out of the shower. A plush white towel set was left for him to dry with. He noticed a razor and shaving cream laid out for him next to the towels. "What's this for?" He looked in the mirror and noticed his face looked shaggy. "...I don't actually know how to do this..." In fear of messing up and or looking stupid, he begrudgingly decided to ask the guy who'd been dealing with a rogue beard for days.

Before he headed out, a sight caught his attention. Cubot carried painting supplies down a long hallway. Art brushes and paints were aplenty and nearly fell out of his arms. As an excuse to look around, he followed the small square robot in hopes he'd stumble on Eggman's lab and the 'robot that used to be a person'. ' _This is the dumber of the two...maybe I can get him to divulge information about what that buffoon's been into_.'

Shadow began his search for Eggman's plans, via Cubot's naivete.

* * *

Careful not to burn any bridges there, Shadow :P


	98. Chapter 98: Chaos

Thanks for the support through this _beast_ of a story.

Writing is a great way to deal with depression, sadly, depression also stifles writing abilities.

I know it's an unweildy story, but I assure you all that there is a conclusion to be had. You have my word. ;D

I have to compliment all y'all on your patience with this fic. I want to rewrite it SO badly.

Gotta finish it first. Because, right now, it's pure...x_x

* * *

 **-Chapter 98: Chaos-**

* * *

Shadow followed the small square robot to the basement hallway. The bot dropped art supplies along his way. Shadow graciously picked them up and continued on.

Cubot entered a room and the door shut behind him.

Shadow knocked and the door slid right back open. The sight of several murals of Rouge based on old renaissance paintings covered the walls. The Mona Lisa, The Sistine Madonna and Sleeping Venus were the few he could name off the top of his head. He was shocked to near silence. "You...dropped these." He handed the paint and paintbrushes back to the robot. "What...is all this?"

Cubot turned around and showcased his art. "My lovely Rouge is etched into my heart. No matter how many times I'm reset, her visage of beauty is forever burned into my memory banks. This is how I've been coping," he said sorrowfully.

"Duly noted," he said and left the robot to his devices. He shook his head as if to dislodge the sight that laid before him moments ago. "I won't be forgetting that any time soon." Chalking the behaviour up to faulty programming, he traveled back to Sonic and Amy's.

"Goodness, look at you," Rouge said as she approached him. She fluffed his cheeks as she did Sonic's. "You were right, it did have an effect on him."

"Wow," Sonic said as he witnessed shaggy-Shadow.

He groaned and scratched his cheeks. "Do you mind giving me a hand with this," he said with defeat.

"Sure thing, dear. Come on in the washroom." Rouge got the clippers up and running. She carefully crafted and sculpted her partner's face. "Almost done."

"Rouge, I can't help feel you missed a few spots."

"Shh, shh, I'm creating."

Shadow sighed.

She took a step back and admired her handiwork. She clasped her hands together and gasped at the sight. Immediately afterward, she activated her wrist communicator and flashed a quick picture.

"...what have you done to my face?"

Sonic listened from the other room and snickered, ever so lightly.

She tilted his face from side to side to get a better mental image. "You probably won't like it, but let me enjoy this for a few brief moments." She showed him the picture of the Van Dyke she carefully and lovingly shaved onto his face. His usual ever-present scowl added to the piece. "Dashing, darling."

"..." Shadow sighed. Rouge looked proud of her work and he didn't want to offend her. "Do you really think I could pull this off day to day, Rouge?"

She clicked her tongue. "No."

"I appreciate the effort, but I'm going to pass on facial hair."

Rouge started the clippers. "I can keep the picture though?"

"...fine. Show no one."

"Aww, come on," Sonic whined from the other room.

"Especially not him."

"Be that way," Sonic laughed and dismissed the notion of bearded Shadow. "When you two are done, come look at this."

They emerged from the washroom and went to Sonic at his kitchen counter. He rested his chin on the counter top and closely examined his Chaos Emerald. "Look closely," he said and rotated the crystal. A small reddish swirl passed over it and went back to normal. "See that?"

"Unrest?" Shadow folded his arms. "Have you ever spoken to Chaos before?"

Sonic looked confused. "Can't say that I have. What are they, a manufacturer?"

"No you..." Shadow stopped short of an insult. "No. Chaos is the entity that encompasses the energy of the Chaos Emeralds. They have a consciousness that can be conversed with."

He checked his memory for any instance of such a conversation with an 'entity' in his emerald. "How do I do that?"

Shadow shook his head. "I'm not sure. The only time I've spoken to Chaos is during deep sleep." He picked up the gem and examined it closer. The red swirl only occasionally passed over the surface. During their conversation, it only happened once more.

They decided a more 'sciencey' opinion and or scan would prove useful. The trio headed to Tails. Sonic knocked and they were let in. Tails welded at his work bench and had his back to them. "Sorry to bug you, man. We got a Chaos themed issue and we need your big ol' sciencey brain to help."

Tails laid his torch down. He lifted his face shield as he turned around. "No worries. I'm nearly done here." He laid the mask to the side and tossed a blue tarp over his work.

Sonic held up his emerald and got his friend to stare at it until it did a thing.

Tails witnessed the red pass over the top and sides. His head tilted to the side as he took the gem in between two fingers. "Interesting."

"When I had Shadow hold on to it, my beard stopped growing and his started."

Tails nodded. "Curses tend to have a way they present themselves, so sayeth the movies. I imagine that hair growth was this one's." Tails wheeled out a small computer on a TV tray sized table. The device looked more magic than science. A palm sized platform of solid quartz was attached to a small panel computer with a keyboard. He placed the gem on quartz and powered on the device. It's screen lit up and binary could be read. Tails carefully read the numbers as they whizzed by. "These are the same readings I get from Knuckles emerald. It looks like you have two forms of Chaos energy in this one crystal."

"That's bad...I take it," Sonic said as he speculated as to what happened. "Maybe the chaos energy the scientists combined is having a bad reaction with the Chaos energy I have in my emerald."

Tails shrugged. "The only way we can know for sure is to ask Chaos herself, or himself, I doubt they really have a gender, actually."

Sonic planted a fist on his hip. "You and Shadow both say that like it's common knowledge."

"You should have spoken with them when you imprinted with the crystal when you first got it," Tails said.

Sonic looked further back into his memory banks. "That's nearly twenty years ago by now."

Shadow spoke up, "Chaos is fluid looking. They're blue, like the canisters we've been pulling out of the abandoned laboratories."

That description jogged his memory. "I vaguely remember talking to a being like that long ago. I thought it was a dream; so, Chaos is someone I can actually speak to."

Tails nodded. "I only ever spoke to them once, when I accepted my gem, when I was seven. I guess my imprint was a bit closer than yours, so I remember it better."

Sonic was handed his gem. "How can I get in contact?" He watched the stone wash over in red and go back to it's normal vibrant green once again.

"Isn't Julie-Su practicing meditation with her's? She does take a more 'spiritual' approach to the whole thing," Rouge mentioned.

"For me, science is just magic I can explain," Tails said with a shrug. "Knux and Jules said they'd be out for a bit, but they should be back shortly. Speaking of 'shortly'," he said and hooked a thumb at his previous project. "I have something that's going to make your life a lot easier. Give me an hour and I should be finished."

Sonic brightened up, "Cool. Oh yeah, Mina was talking about a music video idea. I got to get a hold of her too."

Tails tails whipped back and forth in excitement. "It's gonna be great," he said with clenched fists. "She was talking to me and Cream about it when we helped her with her concert swag. I've made drones to get the angles she needs, but without a full cast, the idea falls through. The lyrics for the song she's using implies it's a collab piece."

Sonic rubbed his hands together with a wide grin on his face, "Will Duditude be making a comeback?"

"Here's hoping," Tails smiled wide in return and gave an invigorated fistbump.

Farewells finished, the three headed out once again.

A solid knock on the set of brand new oak doors brought no one forward. Sonic leaned in and spoke, "Hello? You home?" He let them all in. "We can chill out here till they get back." He smelled the air. "Were they baking?" Sonic looked over and witnessed a brand new stove with a pile of cooling cookies atop it's surface. "Nice. Six burners," he said as he went to the black and silver appliance.

"Cookies? Don't mind if I do," Rouge said as she walked up along side him. He held out a note to her. "Hmm?" She read aloud, "THC cookies, only eat one."

Sonic abandoned the notion of eating a cookie. "Maybe they made a batch without lacing them?" He lifted the cover to a white porcelain serving dish. A second note, with the same message, sat atop some frosted cookies. Sonic picked it up and said, "Guess not. This must be an order for Tonic Concentration." He noticed a stack of unfolded boxes, big enough to house four cookies a piece.

"They're making edibles," Rouge asked as she picked up a cook to smell. "Ooh, gingery."

"Don't eat that. You're still on the clock," Shadow said from the kitchen table attached to the side of the old tree. Five other stools surrounded the bar-like, crescent table.

"I know, dear. Don't worry, after the other night I've had my fill of mind altering substances for a while. Though, I am curious...is she using this as a means to meditate?"

Sonic perked up. "Let's find out." He called Julie-Su on her communicator.

' _Yo, what's up_ ,' she answered casually.

"We dropped by to see if you had any luck with your Chaos Emerald and found a bunch of weed cookies. Was wondering if those two things are connected."

She chuckled, ' _Gosh, no. The cookies were for bot fun and shipment. I managed to summon my gem without much trouble. Hard time holding on to the thing; that'll come in time, I imagine_.'

"Gotcha. You guys heading back soon?"

' _Soonish,_ ' she said.

' _We're hunting down some fruit for smoothies. I think we found the biggest Jackfruit on the island,_ ' Knuckles voice sounded in the background.

"Smoothies?"

' _Yeah. Stick around. We got enough for everyone,_ ' Jules said.

Sonic looked to Shadow and Rouge. "You guys down for smoothies?"

They nodded.

"We'll be here."

Sonic scrolled through his communicator for anything in Amy's schedule that hadn't been taken care of. Besides Anne and Rolph's town registration, they needed to get photo ID's made when the paperwork was done being filed. He also made a note of getting in contact with the Gogo'Ba tribe before the luau and their 'vow of silence' kicked in.

"What's in the baked goods?" Shadow asked.

Rouge spoke up first, "You know that stuff Hugh was into the night you couldn't locate him with the hivemind? That."

Shadow searched his own memories. "I don't think the military tested that one on me."

"Tested?" Sonic asked.

He explained. "My body, as you know, has the ability to heal at a nearly immeasurable rate. In a vain attempt to understand my DNA better, the military issued testing to gauge my abilities. If I were say, put on a mission wherein I'm given poison or drugged, it's best to know how my body can handle it."

"What were the results?" Sonic asked.

Shadow sat with folded arms, "Every drug they gave me failed to subdue me for any longer than five minutes. The dose that Anne gave me was the longest I'd been negatively affected by a drug."

Rouge shivered, "I remember when they tested uncut heroin on you."

He looked up and saw her rub her arms free of goosebumps. "Why are you bothered? I was fine."

Rouge shook her head, "You stopped breathing for a solid minute." She sighed, "I know you can heal, but at the time I didn't. I thought you died."

Shadow smirked deviously, "If I can survive reentry through the planet's atmosphere, I'm sure some measly chemicals won't do me much harm. For the record, the dose they gave me would have been enough to kill four healthy adults."

Sonic's eyes went wide. He looked back to the cookies. "I guess pot cookies wouldn't do much to you then."

"Probably not. Alcohol seems to be the only thing I can't handle. Still need to look into that a bit more," Shadow lamented.

Sonic thought again. "How close are Hugh's healing abilities? Because he's got the whole 'can't drink alcohol' thing too, and the weed hit him fine."

Rouge smiled and picked up a cookie. "One way to find out."

"No." Shadow gave it a second thought, "...not right now." Shadow thought about it more. "Did you call it 'Pot'? Isn't that what Private Walker smokes?"

"Yes," Rouge nodded, "Marijuana's got a lot of names. Pot, weed, hash, ganja," she said as she counted on her fingers.

Sonic joined in, "Reefer, grass, green, Mary-Jane."

Rouge continued, "Sticky-icky, herb, chronic..."

"Dope," Sonic added with a raised finger.

"Why does one plant need so many names?" Shadow was simultaneously bemused and frustrated.

"No clue," Sonic said.

"Maybe it's because they keep needing to make new nic names to talk about it around others who may not be 'cool' with it," Rouge suggested with bunny ear, air quotes. "Not to mention how widespread it's use is. Each region has their own slang word for it."

Sonic went on, "Bud, kush, hashish-lengthened form of hash, cannabis," Sonic counted more names. "That's nearly twenty names."

Shadow continued to question the substance. "What does it do? You say this can be used in meditation?"

Sonic nodded, "Calming effects. Increased apatite. Kills pain. Relieves nausea. I don't know if it affects everybody the same, but when it wears off you sleep like a rock. I say if we can't figure out how to talk to Chaos on our own, this is an option we can try."

Shadow pondered. "It would also be useful to know if I'm able to develop immunity to it, as well. I'm reluctant though; from my experience with private Walker, it makes you rather slow and stupid."

Rouge laughed, "Speaking of which. He got back to me."

"Anything to report?"

She shook her head and pulled up the message he sent her. "He says: Hey, babe, did as much snooping as I could and...every...one came up clean. Hold on, he's typing something..." She waited for the giant block of text to come through. She read to herself. Each word made her more horrified. "Oh dear...oh...that's...oh, no, that's not okay."

"WHAT?!" Shadow said through clenched teeth.

She held up a hand. "Please don't shoot the messenger," Rouge cleared her throat gently and read aloud for them. "Hey, babe, update: While I was snooping, I figured that Shadow may have been the mole, so I broke into his apartment to gather more info."

Shadow looked upset.

"Unfortunately, I was kinda drunk and knocked over his motorcycle."

Shadow looked _more_ upset.

Rouge continued, "It only ended up getting a small scratch, but the sound of it falling over alerted the neighbours. They called the police and I got arrested. After they questioned me, it looked too fishy that I was there. Instead of throwing me in jail, they added another two years to my enrollment and are shipping me your way. Apparently the only one they trust to keep me under wraps is the Major himself. See you in a few days. Later," she finished and turned off her communicator.

Shadow looked even _more_ upset with his mouth drawn back tightly, as to stifle any amount of yelling and or swearing that may erupt.

"You okay, bro?" Sonic asked.

"Don't...don't even..." Shadow sat at the table and laid his head down. He took a deep breath.

Rouge spoke up again, "Want a cookie?"

"...after I give my report," he said and sighed deeply, accompanied with a heavy eyeroll. "This place is safe, right?" he asked and looked up to Rouge.

Rouge gave an intense listen for ultrasonic sounds. After they all checked for electronic bugs, Rouge gave a thumbs up. "All clear."

Shadow reached into the burlap bag that accompanied he and Rouge for the duration of their trip to Seaside island. He emerged with yet another communicator to contact the Colonel with.

Nearby, across the room, a tiny, white teardrop shaped robot, no larger than a sand flea, listened in on all they had to say. It's slinked along the floorboards near the edge of the wall. It's colour turned black and blended in better as it got closer.

Back at Eggman's lair, he folded his hands behind his head, "I knew they'd let their guard down soon enough." He removed his glasses and shut his blue eyes. When he opened them again, his sclera were blackened and his iris reddened. "I see everything now."

Orbot floated obediently at his side. His eyes were also red in colour. "Your insight is like no other, boss. Par for the course, of course."

He chuckled at the wordplay. "Isn't it?" Dr. Eggman smiled and watched and listened.

* * *

O_o


	99. Chapter 99: Report and Relaxation

Holy snappin crap, nearly 100 chapters?! XD

To think, I was planning on ending this, like, at chapter 40ish. HA!

This one's really dialogue heavy. Haven't done one of these yet...I don't think O_O

* * *

 **-Chapter 99: Report and Relaxation-**

* * *

Shadow sighed as he sat at Knuckles kitchen table with Sonic and Rouge. He begrudgingly dialed the Colonel's internal line, voice only.

' _Major Shadow, you're late with your report. I'm sure there's ample reasoning_.'

"Yes, Sir. With constant information coming in, I couldn't fathom where to begin. Instead of calling each day, I decided to wait until a stasis was reached."

' _Go on_.'

"Upon arrival, Dr. Eggman was ready and willing to house and assist us in locating the old Chaos technology. He was even able to direct us to maps of the locations of the temples. Town hall is unaware of our actions to this date, our cover as geologists hasn't been compromised."

' _That's what I like to hear_.'

"Unfortunately, Dr. Eggman's loyalties have recently wavered. With the help of Team Sonic in conjunction with The Lightening Bolt Society, we've reclaimed nearly all of the recovered technology. I regret to report a set of one dozen batteries containing an unknown amount of Chaos material has been lost and sent overseas to aid the Duchad Empire, via the Iron Kingdom's royal fleet. Because of this, the Iron Kingdom is most likely aware the technology exists and may act on pursuing it in the future."

' _That is troubling. We took a risk when we trusted the doctor in the first place. We'll manage damage control on our end_.'

"Next, the leader of Team Sonic accompanied me on an expedition and was badly injured as a result. His injuries required over a hundred stitches."

' _Is he pressing charges_?'

Sonic shook his head.

"No. In addition to an injury, the Chaos energy seems to have given him the ability to transform into larger creature, similar to that of a werewolf. The form has been called 'werehog', for simplicity."

' _...are you serious_?'

"Sir, I can teleport and pull lightening spears from thin air; are you really questioning reality now?"

' _...go on_.'

"Furthermore, we have come to learn that there is a second 'werehog' form that has affected his Chaos Emerald. If in possession of the gem, a second form comes forward and is irreconcilable. In his second transformed state, he laid waste to Dr. Eggman's fortress over loyalty disputes. It looks as though Dr. Eggman has since repaired his property with the use of nano technology, thought to previously be owned by the owners of Project Shadow. Presumably he has the rights to the company's intellectual property since Eggman Industries is a direct subsidiary of the parent company."

' _We'll have to look into that for sure. When it comes to dealing with traitors, we take every angle we can. If he's dipping into stolen information, he'll be in cuffs by days end_.'

"We can only hope it's so easy. Next, we've come in contact with one surviving member of the original Project Shadow, and two members who were involved with the project after it moved to Mobius. The latter two are currently in the works to become members of Hedgehog Village, while the other member has, literally, run off and joined the circus. He may remain a vagabond for some time but hopefully his desire to be a disability support worker for the hearing impaired forces him to get on the roster for the city up north, aptly named North Valley."

' _There's only one circus, I assume?_ '

"Correct. I don't want any of them targeted. As off putting as this may seem, I take full responsibility for their actions. I'll deal with them accordingly if they act up, or go rogue."

' _Proper procedure, as usual_.'

"We've enlisted the help of Chaotix. Their members are willing to assist in our cause. The consensus is we suspect an invasion. Town hall is concerned that if desirable ore is in large enough quantities on the island, it would attract the attention of pirates and, or, Duchad's enforcers. It would be best to excavate the materials. This island has high potential of being used as a munitions outlet. The war is slowly moving up the coast line; Seaside Island and the surrounding archipelago are only twelve hours away from the third biggest port on the east coast. Again, this part is only speculation, but with fair reasoning. The Duchess has commented, and thinks it highly likely this is factual."

' _You've made direct contact with the Duchess_?'

"We believe we have. She was aware of information we were confident only the royal family would know. We've received orders not to tamper with her cover and have been instructed to keep any and all knowledge of her to ourselves. Team Sonic will be our primary source for contact with the royal family from now on."

' _Understood. That lines up with our information as well. It's rewarding when contacts are confirmed and colleagues can be trusted_.'

Shadow sighed, "About that. Private Walker; he's not in much trouble, is he?"

' _Potentially not. We wanted to clear with you whether or not his story was accurate_.'

Shadow huffed. "We _did_ ask him to do some digging for us. I _didn't_ ask him to break into my apartment and scratch my bike. He's trustworthy; even if he does deserve a punch in the face."

' _Noted_. _How about his former partner? Has she been staying in line_?'

Rouge gave him a closed eyed smile and drew an imaginary halo above her head.

"She's been following the mission to the letter."

'More good news. I'll inform the General of her improvments. Another promotion may be on the horizon.'

Rouge clenched a fist in success and silence.

"Lastly, I haven't had a chance to watch the debate as of yet. I know Jami and Duchad were supposed to have a meeting to discuss, as far as I'm concerned, the mere possibility of existing along side one another. Has that drawn a conclusion?"

' _Overall, it was informative. Jami has an excellent grasp on what her people really need and how they can achieve that. Towards the end, radicals hailing to Duchad detonated bombs in the lobby in protest. No casualties thus far, but we're still on high alert_.'

Rouge and Sonic exchanged a worried glance.

"I figured something like that would happen. Were there any large mechanical guards or mechanical suits present?"

' _None that we could identify._ _Strictly artillery and riot gear_.'

"It would be best to note the timing of the enforcers, or enthusiasts, use of technology from here on out. If their tech power begins to climb exponentially, we'll not only know when they receive shipment, but also if they're developing their own.

' _Keep alert to shoddy craftsmanship and noticeable knockoff's. I'll keep intel in the loop_.'

"That being said, while it's somewhat unrelated, I'm unable to teleport due to the use and, or, misuse of Chaos magic. This may last for several weeks. I'll keep you posted if anything changes."

' _Also, noted. I believe that covers everything. Unless there was anything else you want to share, Major Shadow_?'

"..." He huffed, "Tell Boris he owes me five hundred dollars."

There was a moment of silence and then the Colonel burst out laughing. ' _I can tell you're serious! Haha! You're buying me drinks tonight. Congratulations, soldier. Keep doing us proud_.'

"Goodbye, sir," he said ruefully and hung up on the cackling older man.

"What was that last part about, dear?" Rouge had her suspicions.

Shadow said no words but rolled his eyes away from her. He got up, grabbed a cookie and headed to the living room.

"Well, I never! Do I even get a cut," Rouge asked as she pretended to be offended and followed him out of the room.

"Okay, I missed something." Sonic took a second to piece together the information. "Wait...does that mean...you two..." Sonic touched the two tips of his fingers together.

Shadow stormed back in the room. "You're figuring that out, just now?"

Sonic held up his hands defensively. "I had my speculations! I didn't know for sure and I didn't want to assume!"

"For crying out loud," Shadow said and held up the cookie. "You said these will make me sleep?"

"Yes! Not with Rouge! Not on my couch!" he snapped.

Shadow pointed a finger directly at his face. "We're even...okay? Shut up about this."

Sonic calculated in his head that Shadow referred to calling him six times in one night. He groaned and accepted that which he could not change. "Fine! And stay off my pillows." He followed Shadow back into the living room with Rouge.

Rouge giggle lightly to herself as she examined the stereo that stood nearly as tall as she did.

Sonic sat on a nearby beanbag seat and sulked. "Ew."

Rouge laughed louder as she tuned the radio to her favourite station. "I'm sure that wasn't the first time your couch has seen action."

"To make myself clear, what I spoke to the Colonel at the end wasn't for what you're both thinking. It was for this," Shadow said and pointed to the cookie he'd selected for himself. "Boris said he'd pay me five hundred to try these."

Sonic sat forward, made eye contact and, still sour, said, "Ew."

Shadow huffed, "You're going to be like this all night?"

He swished a hand and dismissed the negativity. "I'm over it." He came around, "What are you waiting for; havin' second thoughts?"

Shadow nodded and sat forward to let his weight rest on his elbows on his knees. "If this does effect me, how long will the effects last and will I be able to function in case of an emergency. While the information is good to know, I don't want to learn it at the expense of my and others safety."

"We can trip-sit you, darling," Rouge said and turned up the music she'd located on the airways. "We stay kosher and keep an eye on you in case anything happens."

"Not to be rude, but we _can_ take care of the island on our own. You can take a day off," Sonic said and rested his hands behind his head and lounged down in the beanbag chair nook. He squirmed a bit and readjusted his seat.

Shadow encouraged himself. "...five hundred..."

"Hold on," Rouge said and messaged private Walker. "'How much would you bet me I can convince the Major to eat space cakes?' And send," she said her message aloud. "...he's responding...there, another two hundred. Seven hundred dollars are coming your way."

Sonic read from his communicator, "'Tell him, whatever it is, I'll double it.'" He looked up from his communicator. "Mina wants in."

Shadow huffed.

"Fourteen hundred. That's a chunk of change," Sonic said.

"I'd take it if I were you, dear."

Shadow folded his arms tightly. "Really; for this? You all seem pretty anxious to see this happen." Shadow huffed. "Guaranteed I won't be out fourteen hundred afterward?"

"One sec," Sonic said and texted away.

Within five minutes, Mina was with them. Not only had she brought the money in cold hard cash(paper), she also brought milk to go with the cookies. "In the name of magic and science," she said and cheersed glasses of milk with Shadow. They enjoyed a 'magic gingersnap' each.

Shadow checked his watch and set a timer. "You can taste it a little. Pungent," he said through chewing with a semi closed mouth. The cookie was gone. "Aftertaste is piney." He drank the remainder of the milk to douse the flavour.

"Are you recording this?" Sonic asked Rouge quietly.

She nodded, "Of _course_ , darling." She held her communicator still. "While you're at it, see if you can contact Chaos anyway. No sense in wasting a perfectly good trip."

He agreed with a single nod.

"Can anyone speak to them?" Mina asked. She was familiar with all that had been going on with team Sonic via Tails info, and being caught up briefly upon arrival.

"Since you aren't imprinted, you'll need to make physical contact." Shadow brought forth two gems and they floated in front of him. He grabbed the cyan stone and handed it to Mina and kept the red stone in his free hand. "This belongs to Amy Rose. If you manage to make contact, be sure to state your purpose. If Chaos thinks you're trying to steal from her, they will defend the gem." The red one vanished as quickly as it appeared.

Mina nodded and sat back on the couch next to Shadow. "My purpose is to find out what's going on with Sonic's emerald?" She pointed to the green stone on the table that occasionally flickered in red.

"Correct. With three of us trying, we're bound to get somewhere," Shadow sighed. "I'm having second thoughts."

Rouge scoffed, "Honey, you're way past that point."

"When Knuckles and Jules get back, I'm sure they'll give it a shot too." Sonic did his best to relax on the beanbag but couldn't find a comfortable spot. "This chair isn't working out. Beanbag chairs are comfy, but you got to be in the mood for em." He took up a vacant armchair with a stiff cushioned back. "There we go." He sat, legs crossed beneath him and eyes shut.

Shadow briefly took a look at the large, red bean bag chair.

"Go for it," Mina said to him. "I see you eyeing it."

Shadow gave a light smile as he got up. "It's been a while since I sat in a chair like this."

"You never crossed me as a 'beanbag chair kind of guy'," Rouge said and lounged in her seat that swung from the ceiling with a hemp rope. It looked like a wide open, wicker bird cage with a fluffy turquoise cushion for a seat.

He nodded and sat in the centre of the cushy chair. "We had them all over the space station. They were easy to move around, clean or refill. Plus, if there was turbulence and things were thrown around, it didn't hurt to get hit with one." He examined the fabric the chair was made of. "Ours were a soft velour, with a leather bottom. This is suede, I think." He felt the smooth but resilient surface of the fabric.

Rouge took a small notebook from her bag and kept a timestamp, with the help of a stopwatch, to track the time things changed for the two.

"Are you from here on the island originally?" Mina kept the chit-chat up.

"The shortened version is this: I was created on a space station; I lived there for fourteen years, was put in stasis for fifty years and then about thirteen years ago, landed on Mobius."

Rouge clarified, "By 'landed', he means he fell from the space station to the surface of the planet."

Mina leaned forward on the couch, eyes wide with anticipation. "Get out! That's hard core."

Shadow looked impressed that Mina was so interested in his story. "I landed in the canyon where I lived in for several years. Hence the name: Shadow Canyon."

"They named it after you? Did it have a name before?" she asked.

He nodded, "Dusty Canyon, in the Mirage desert."

Mina scoffed, "Wow, broke their backs naming those, didn't they? No wonder they changed it."

"Indeed," he said with a chuckle. "I wasn't intending to be infamous, but I suppose when you fall from the sky, make a half kilometer crater and emerge on fire, but seemingly still okay...people talk about you."

"Can you blame them?" Rouge said.

"People _are_ naturally curious," Mina said. "Being 'on fire' and being 'okay' don't normally happen at the same time. My interest would have been peaked."

Shadow nodded. "I tried to stay elusive. I eventually became the 'Loch Ness' of the canyon and people started to question whether or not the witness accounts of the crater were true. That's when Eggman caught wind of the stories. The reason he woke me up in the first place was to help him deal with this guy-" Shadow referenced Sonic.

The blue blur sat there, silent, deep in meditation while his gem floated in front of him. His eyes shut and head slightly leaned forward, his breathing was steady.

The other two took notice and were stuck for words. "Did he-?" Mina began.

"He did it," Shadow said. "Now we wait."

Mina was in awe of the weightless floating green bobble. "I wonder what Chaos is like."

Rouge shrugged, "I suppose we can ask when he's done."

"Though we should keep talking. The noise level might have been what helped him concentrate in the first place," Mina said and used a nearby remote to increase the stereo volume by two notches. "Now back to this whole 'history of Shadow' thing. Why were you 'created' and not 'born' on the space station?"

The three got to know one another while Sonic got to meet Chaos and get to the bottom of his cursed emerald.

* * *

Time to talk to Chaos in person ;D


	100. Chapter 100: Tell Me More

Woot! Triple digits! XD

Since I posted last...it seems the world is ending. I'm going on unemployment insurance to stay home, so I'll be fine, but still...fuckin' hell. I hope all y'all have prepared for this to last a while. Do your best to keep busy to ward off cabin fever. XoX

I'll have enough time to get this story finished, at least. o.O

 **Please stay home unless necessary**. _Wash yer hands(or sanitize) often anytime you go out_. Remember social distancing.

This is a scary time for all of us. Stay safe.

Peace out, everyone. ^.^

* * *

 **-Chapter 100: Tell Me More-**

* * *

Sonic opened his eyes to a strange sight. An empty, hazy, pinkish void sat in front of him instead of Knuckles and Julie-Su's living room. A single other being floated there with him. They looked like something from a dream. "Chaos," he said with certainty.

They opened their eyes and stared him down with the two large, slanted oval orbs. Upon the back of their head were two fins that fell like a double kerchief. "Yes," it said with fatigue. Their lanky arms and legs hung downward, with three pointed fingers and two pointed toes a piece. It's body was cyan with blue tones and looked like a seething, flowing liquid. Light from behind them shined through and illuminated their presence as they floated closer. "It's about time you got in contact. Would you mind explaining what's going on?"

Sonic was shocked. "Holy crap, is that a brain?" he said and took stock of a pink sphere in behind their pupiless, lime-green eyes.

Chaos snapped their fingers and got his attention. "Listen to me. I need to know why you're mixing up my energies like this? I kept the emeralds separate for a reason. I even made them different colours for you flesh beings to comprehend easier."

"What?" Sonic was at a loss for words.

They drew a hand from the top to bottom of their face so rough, the fins on the back of their head waggled. Suddenly, Chaos's right arm flared white and grew ten times larger. Four additional clawed fingers sprouted forth and extended their reach upwards. Chaos struggled but managed to wrangle the energy. They went back to normal seconds later. "This energy here," it said and made a tight fist, "It belongs in the gem your big red friend has. There was a bit of another one floating around here earlier, but that seems to have vanished. I don't know what you're trying to accomplish, but you best cut it out."

Sonic, shocked by what he'd just witnessed, decided to let what happened in front of him to be something, somewhat, normal. He tried to float closer. He flailed slightly but successfully moved forward. "I didn't mix up the energies. We found an abandoned science laboratory with a container of Cha-your energy. I ended up getting contaminated with some when the container busted on me. The scientists aren't around anymore, we can't ask them what their intentions were; I do know it was for a good cause though...if that helps any."

"It doesn't, unfortunately," Chaos sighed. "The road to hell is paid with good intentions. My emeralds are the very reason that saying exists." Chaos gave another, more exhausted, sigh. "I'll keep it simple for you. Essentially, these 'scientists' are 'chef's'. They threw ingredients into a pot without reading any labels, had no clue what they were cooking with, or how to cook it properly, then they burned it, and you ended up eating it anyway. Make sense now?"

"More or less," Sonic nodded. "How can we fix this?"

"Fix? Easy: Put it back where it's supposed to be; or pass it on to an unused gem."

Sonic showed empty palms in a shrug. "Where do we find an unused gem?"

"I make one for you."

"How long will that take?"

"A few hundred years. You may want to try your first option of **putting it** **back** ," they emphasized. "And maybe, let others know to not tamper with powers beyond their reasoning from here on out."

Sonic was put off by Chaos's bitterness. He understood circumstances probably led to Chaos's jilted demeanor and snide attitude. "I'm not able to wield magic like that; I don't know how to put it back."

Chaos looked thoughtful. "Without being a part of the physical world, I can't do much. What about Shadow? He seems adept with wielding my powers."

"I'm not sure."

Chaos floated backwards and pondered with lightly folded arms. "Certain terrestrial gems and or electrical devices can channel my energy. Quartz is a common catalyst."

Sonic lightened up. "Catalyst?" He quickly recalled Tails machine and how it read Knuckles gem's energy right away. "That's right. We can use our electronics to transfer it's energy."

Chaos looked frustrated. "That's how we got into this mess in the first place. Don't do random experiments to **stumble** on results; this is less of a penicillin scenario, more of a thorium reactor ordeal." Chaos crossed their legs beneath them in half lotus style. "I'm going to tell you what you have to do. There are two options. The first: A green Chaos Emerald, from a separate dimension, sitting in Dr. Eggman's lair. It's somewhat depleted and has room to store this excess energy." Chaos held their arm once again as it threatened to grow out of control from the shoulder downward. "The second option is: Osmosis. You don't have to do anything. You place it on a large enough conductive crystal and the energy will even itself out in a few days."

"That's it? That's all we need to do to lift the curse?"

Chaos raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Curse? There's no curse."

Sonic too looked confused. "Then why do I keep changing at night?"

Chaos thought on the matter more. "That extra bit of energy I sensed earlier may have been what you're talking about. Either that or this energy imbalance is causing you problems too." Chaos's leg bulked out and their two toed foot looked to have eight large clawed blue talons on it. Chaos rubbed the leg as though they had a charlie-horse.

Sonic looked on with concern, unable to offer help, "You okay?"

Chaos composed themselves once again, this time, slightly out of breath. "What happens to you during the evening?"

"I turn into a sort of 'were' creature at night and an even bigger, uncontrollable one during rage or exposure to a red mineral, yet to be named."

Chaos controlled the leg flare up and chuckled. "'Were'? As in 'werewolf'?"

Sonic nodded. "We call it 'werehog' because, you know, I'm a hedgehog."

Chaos laughed. "You don't say? The prefix 'were' means 'human', you know, right?"

He hesitated, "I-I do now."

"Calling it 'werehog' means you've been calling yourself, 'manpig'?"

"I-" Chaos cut him off with laughter. "Can you help any more than that? Not really keen on getting laughed at, here."

Chaos blotted a fake tear away, "You mortals never cease to give me endless hours of entertainment." They looked serious once again. "The 'nighttime wolf' transformation is definitely the mark of 'Gaia'. A being of fire and rage, but also rebirth. The 'big scary one' is this excess Chaos energy playing off of Gaia's form. Which is why they both look 'werewolfy'."

Sonic absorbed the information. "If the energy from the Green Gem leaves, then the big transformation won't happen anymore?"

"Correct."

"What about the nighttime one?"

Chaos shrugged. "You're going to have to get in touch with Gaia's 'go-between'. I believe the Gogo'Ba tribe have him as one of their deities. To, again, simplify for your mortal mind: He's a small, unnamed red being that ushers in the 'rebirth portion' of Gaia's 'death portion'. The Gogo'Ba's should be able to tell you where he is. You can summon him at the appropriate temple, but that's as much as I know. Gaia and I aren't on the best of terms. We haven't had any interaction in thousands of years."

Sonic thought about the buried village they stumbled upon. "The village we found should work as a good bargaining chip." He nodded his head deeply. "Thank you, Chaos. I'm going to correct the problem as soon as I get back. I'm really sorry to have put you through this. We borrow your power so frequently but don't realize you have a consciousness. I'll tell the rest of the team to be more thoughtful of your presence from now on."

Chaos folded their arms and gave a smile. "Much appreciated."

They floated there in awkward silence. "Uh..."

"You don't know how to leave, do you?"

Sonic smiled and blushed a bit as he rubbed the back of his head, "If you could give me a hand."

"Take care, Manpig," Chaos said and ended their moment in a bright white flash.

Sonic took a sharp, inward breath and shocked the room he was in.

Shadow, Rouge and Mina looked at him with surprise.

"How much did you accomplish in," Shadow looked skeptically at his watch, "Less than five minutes."

Sonic gave a thumbs up and a wide smile, "I got it all figured out."

They all sighed in relief.

* * *

Occam's razor doth apply.


	101. Chapter 101: Progress

Here we go. THIS is the final stretch.

* * *

 **Chapter 101: Progress**

* * *

"Would you look at that; Tails finally called." Sonic stood from his armchair.

Mina stopped her search for the 'right music' on her phone. She leaned on the arm of the sofa. "You're leaving?" she asked.

Rouge heard something in the distance and tilted her ears toward it. She chose to not care and ignored the sound.

Sonic nodded, "Only for a little bit. Tails has a surprise for me that's apparently going to 'save me lots of money in the long run'. Check it out, they're back," he said as he looked out the side window. Julie-Su drove up to the front of the house in a small white truck loaded with a pile of fruit in the back. Knuckles was presumably in there somewhere.

The two parked by the front door and Knuckles jumped off the back. The pile of fruits he held in place for the trip fell into the sand. "Hey, bro. Wassup?" he said with a wave.

Sonic waved back as he came through the front door, "Not much. I'm heading to Tails place for a minute."

"Want us to wait?" Jules asked as she stepped out of the driver's seat. She turned around and lifted a massive box, with a blender pictured on the side, from the passenger seat.

"Nah, get started, I'll only be a couple minutes," Sonic said and sped off.

Seconds later, at Tails place, he let himself in. "There you are. I've been working all week on these."

"Lay it on me," Sonic said and rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

Tails had something hidden beneath a white sheet on his workbench. "Since your transformation changes with the position of the sun and moon, this should take the guess work off of when you should remove your shoes. I give to you," he said and pulled back the sheet. "Smart Sneakers!"

A pair of Sonic's red shoes laid on the table.

He blinked in confusion. "Uh...what now?"

Tails chuckled and picked up the sneakers. "When you put these on, they conform to the exact shape and size of your foot. When you transform, they grow accordingly."

"No way!" Sonic slipped his current shoes off and put the new ones on. "That's awesome. Thanks, bro."

Tails smiled a wide proud smile. "Just you wait. The bigger shoes look a bit different. Let's say: They have spikes."

"Woah-ho-ho, now we're talking. Thanks a bunch, man," he said and fist bumped his best bud. "You wanna come over? Knucks and Jules came back with a literal mountain of fruit for smoothies."

Tails blushed a little and rubbed the back of his neck, "As tempting as that is, I have too much to do around here. Thanks though."

"No prob. I'll tell everyone you said 'hi'," he said and noticed an extra pair of shoes by the front door. He deliberately ignored them and waved, "Catch ya later," he said with a smirk and finally vanished into the now sinking sun.

Tails sighed. "He totally saw Cream's shoes," he said with a shy smile. He got back to work.

On his way back, in the middle of town, an all too familiar sight laid before him. Anne and Rolph argued loudly in public. "Hey, you two. What's up?"

Anne pointed a finger at her brother, "He fucked up and won't fess up!"

"I didn't fuck up! It's gotta be you!" Rolph yelled back.

"Woah, hang on, what happened?" Sonic tried to grasp the situation better.

Anne held up her dual bangled wrist. "We got zapped and don't know why!"

"I'm telling you I didn't do anything!" Rolph snapped again. "On toppa' that, we can't find Ultimate anywhere. The hivemind can't feel him at all," he said and poked his head.

"Ultimate?"

"Shadow," Anne corrected him.

"Come on, we're all at Knucks place now. Let's go ask. It was probably an accident." Sonic led the twins back to the house.

The sound and smell of fruits blending could be experienced from outside the door. "Letting you know up front, there's drugs in the cookies, don't eat em," he said and led them past the sugary 'adult' treats, to the living room with the others. Knuckles and Jules had a folding table full of fruit set up. They made smoothies in the living room, where everyone sat for the sake of comfort.

Mina played a new song on the big stereo. She wirelessly casted it, "How about this one?" she said to Shadow who still peacefully rested in the beanbag chair.

He gave a thumbs up then laid flat again.

Mina noticed the three walk in, "Welcome back," she said and pointed to Shadow, "He likes Sak! And big band music."

Shadow nodded. "I believe it's the level of structure to the music itself. There's a lot of layers. You can't have such pristine sounds unless everyone's coordinated and rehearsed. It's a clear show of effort," Shadow calmly said.

"He's here?" Anne asked as she acknowledged her sibling disappearing into the soft seat he'd claimed.

Shadow lifted his head and saw them. "I am; why are you?" he asked.

Rolph and Anne sat down next to one another on the sofa, next to Mina. "Which one of us needed the zap?" Rolph asked, "Cuz I've been good...as far as you know," he said and made light of the gambling he'd cheated at.

"Neither of you," Shadow said and sat up. He looked at Rouge who now searched for their things.

"Where's our bag?" she asked the room.

Everyone looked around. Mina checked behind her. She'd sat up against a small burlap bag. "Is this it?"

Rouge got up and took it from her. "Oopsie." She removed the emerald heart necklace she'd wrapped in a cloth for safe keeping. "I didn't have a hard box to keep this in."

Mina held up her hands to her face. "I'm sorry you two. That thing activates your rings, doesn't it? I didn't even see that bag there."

Rolph raised a finger and was about to scold her when Anne slapped him in the ear with her tail, "Ow!"

"It's okay Mina. Accidents happen," she said and rubbed her brother's shoulder gently with her mid-tail.

He rolled his eye. "Right, social setting, get to know the celebrity, whatever, you fuckin' fangirl," he said and lounged back. He leaned forward again, "Sorry, it is nice to meet you." He sat back again. "Electrocution shoots right through my eye and hurts a lot. I have a headache."

Shadow sat up completely. He crossed a leg beneath him and held the other knee to his chest, "Not to be rude or anything, miss Mina, but how do you know the inhibitor rings? In fact, you know a few things you probably shouldn't, like, about the Chaos Emeralds...why? We've been doing our best to keep this situation under-wraps for a while now," he asked calmly.

"If I could butt in," Sonic said and raised a hand. "Mina's a celebrity. If there's someone who's going to have a lot of influence in the public domain, it's her. If we ever need to reach out for help, her voice is louder than all of ours put together."

"I see. That makes sense," Shadow nodded.

Mina flashed him a peace sign with a wide smile. "I got you covered."

"What's in the cookies, anyway?" Anne asked as she revealed her tail had pilfered a cookie. She shoved the full thing in her mouth all at once.

"What did I say!? Bah, whatever," Sonic said and let it go.

"You'd eat something like that without knowing what's in it first? That's kind of dangerous," Mina said.

Anne shook her head. "Not for me." She showed the full length of her tail that was nearly as long as the rest of her body. "Each chemical I eat, I can make a copy of. Each copy lengthens my tail. It was only a couple feet long when I grew to my adult form."

"Wait? You can make THC with your tail because you ate that?" Mina's eyes widened. "You'd have been a blast in collage."

Anne laughed.

"What other things can you make?" she queried on.

"All kinds of stuff from medicine, venom, some mold spores and even hormones," she said and leaned toward Shadow. "I did some reading at the library today and found out I can actually make the stuff to control my 'heat cycle'. So, you're welcome."

"I'll embrace any bit of good news I can," he said and laid back down and tightly shut his eyes. "Mmm."

Mina rubbed her face. "I'm starting to feel it too," she said with a chuckle. "What do you mean 'heat cycle'?"

Anne went on, "The Black Arm are few and far between; there's only a handful of us left, on this planet and others. The drive to 'populate' is something the hivemind likes to help us focus on."

Sonic turned to Shadow, "What about you? Does the Black Arm encourage you to 'populate' on peoples couches?"

Shadow raised a fist and spoke with an oddly calm voice, "No. And if you ask me something like that again, I'll 'populate' your face with my fist."

They laughed.

"It's so long," Mina said as Anne enticed her with a tail wiggle.

"Yep. I made sure to have as many chemical combinations as possible. When we executed our escape from the lab, the scientists couldn't predict what I was going to use to subdue them. I can create cocktails that are lethal to any terrestrial creature. I drank everything under the sink and ate every colourful plant in the jungle to get my tail this long."

Rolph nodded as he was handed a small purple smoothie from Julie-Su, "Thanks. My eye could see which chemicals were and weren't useful, and which ones would be too difficult to endure after consuming. Like the one that would have literally melted your throat if you ate it."

"Thank you," Anne took her pink smoothie from Jules' other hand. "We avoided that one, for sure. The only one I'd say I regret is hot pepper we found; sadly, it ended up being the one that worked best against Hugh; rather, it would have." She pointed to the tip of her tail. "I can do a few other things with this. The blade is an Non-Newtonian fluid that solidifies when I flex it." She flexed her tail end and produced a three inch serrated blade from the tip of her tail. She guzzled the pink drink in a second. "The stinger-" she said and pointed to the hooked part of her tail as it produced a clear, curved barb. "-is right here. I can inject stuff directly or, if need be, I can douse the blade and use that. The stinger itself has a sheath on it, a single cell thick, that detaches and plugs the point of entry. That way, whatever I inject, can't easily be siphoned out again." Anne got up and went to the smoothie table to experiment with flavours.

Rolph added, "I can see which chemicals are needed using my eye. Using touch, I transfer the information to her. She concocts what's needed and then can use her stinger or blade accordingly. Stinger is good for stealth while the blade is better for combat."

Anne tossed a lime in the air and sliced it clean of skin and into five equal segments. The bits fell into the blender. "It can also do my culinary stuff too."

"That's kick ass," Julie-Su said and began tossing fruits to Anne. She did her best to get them peeled and pared before they hit the table. When they finished loading the blender, Anne cleaned her tail with a damp cloth and continued, "I learnd a lot at the library today. Not just about 'hormones', various other things regarding biology too. I'm actually able to help people with genetic disorders if I can administer multiple doses. Sadly, if I stop, everything goes back to the way it was. For example, harlequin ichthyosis, a sever genetic skin disorder without a cure. If I'm able to administer the right proteins, enzymes and supplements, the symptoms of the disorder would disappear completely. Sadly, as soon as I stop treatment, they would return."

Rolph turned to Sonic, "Before I forget, and before it's too late, leave for the Goober's village in exactly eleven minutes."

Sonic had been intently listening to Anne talk about her tail, he'd lost track of time. He smirked. "If I wait too long, I'll transform while I'm there."

Rolph sighed in delight after finishing a large mouthful of his second smoothie. "I'm aware."

Sonic chuckled to himself. "If you say so."

His prediction of dealing with the Gogo'Ba's came true, he needn't a eye for the future either.

"I can't tell you anything," the Gogo'Ba chief said.

Sonic groaned. "Why not? If I don't know where the temple is at, I'm stuck like this for life," Sonic said as he knelt on the cushion straight across from the chief.

"It would be an affront to our culture to know that a ugh, hedgehog, is the chosen one. Forget it. I won't help someone who's unabashedly appropriating our culture." He sat smugly on his chair. With two hands atop his cane, he tapped it against the dirt floor twice. Footsteps could be heard by the door flap.

"I didn't do this to myself. It was an accident," Sonic said with frustration.

"Regardless. My people would view me helping you as an affront to our culture."

Sonic made a fist. "How!?"

The chief pointed his cane in Sonic's face. "Are you saying that I'm supposed to tell all of my people and the people of the surrounding villages, that none of Chinchilla kind were good enough to be the vessel for our most sacred deity?! Guilt can kill. I'm going to ask you to leave now," he said and tapped his cane an additional two times.

Two guards with tired eyes came in and stood on either side of Sonic.

"They'll see you out," he said and cocked his head to the side. "I hope this is the last time we speak on the matter."

Sonic grumbled as the two guards took his arms and led him out of the tent and through the village. Halfway to the exit, the sun finally sank far enough and triggered Sonic's transformation.

His body grew bulky, his teeth sharpened and his eyes flared a bright green.

The Gogo'Ba people fell to their knees and bowed to the 'werehog' that stood before them. "Omm, omm, omm."

Sonic looked up and saw the chief at the door of his tent. He gave a sly smirk and shrugged at the guy.

They approached one another once again. "Your timing is impeccable...I guess I have no choice." The chief turned to his highest, most well dressed, official overseer. "Do I?"

The woman shook her head. She placed her hands in the baggy sleeves of her red coat.

"Ugh, fine. The temple is on Angle island. It's in the lowest chamber of the most eastern tower. Provided it's still standing, it should have a yellow exterior and pinkish roof. There, you happy?"

"Oooom, ba-ba-ba, ommm," the villagers chanted as they bowed up and down once, from their kneeling positions.

"Yes-yes, shamelessly worship the thieving hedgehog," the chief rolled his eyes.

"Would you chill out," Sonic said and wrote a few numbers in the soil with a sharp claw. "There, go dig up the lost Gogo'Ba village."

The chief looked at the ground and back to the sharp-toothed beast. "Would you have not told us about this if I didn't give you what you wanted?"

He shrugged, "Probably not."

"Hmm, seems the 'side of evil' the 'side of good' don't matter much to you these days." The chief scoffed.

"Pff," Sonic brushed him off and looked for a suitable tree to swing from. "I don't have time for this. The transformation has to do with nighttime and the moon, which are never constant. They're always changing. Something about 'many faces'. I don't know. Draw up your own analogy for it. Later," he said, stretched his arm to the nearest sturdy tree and swung off.

"...rude," the chief said and turned back to his hut.

"Omm, go-go-go, omm," the villagers chanted again.

"Would you all cut it out? He's gone," he sighed and retreated to his tent.

The villagers slowly got to their feet and were clueless as to where their new 'god' had gone.

* * *

Hope y'all are doing good in this difficult time. :D


	102. Chapter 102: A Calm Before The Storm

I'm nervous for the next chapter. I've been stalling and _dreading_ writing it. I have a good grasp of what I want to happen, it's all a matter of timing on my part...timing and coherency. o_O

It's going to jump around to pretty much aaaaaallll the characters and how they tie together.

It'll take a few days to write. Don't know, maybe I'll break it up into parts instead of making it super long...nah, one big lump. As I write this sentence, I realize a break in the flow would ruin the delivery of the climax. x.x

On with the show. :D

* * *

 **-Chapter 102: A Calm Before The Storm-**

* * *

In the hours that came, the seven listened to different music genera's and lightly discussed music theory; Knuckles remained in the kitchen and boiled fruit juices for the store's shipment of homemade jelly candies.

Shadow sat up suddenly from his relaxed position. "That's not good," he said and looked around as if he'd forgotten something.

Mina thought he meant the music, "Though it was the spiritual successor to rock and synthpop, techno doesn't land with everyone."

Shadow shook his head, "No-no, not that."

Anne looked alert too. She sat up from her semi-coiled tail that cradled her in mid air. "Hmm?" she seemed dazed but concerned.

"What the hell's gonna happen?" Rolph asked as he tuned his thoughts toward the hivemind he and his siblings shared. "...he can control the transformation...right?"

Sonic pointed to his werehog self and raised an eyebrow. "Am I the 'he' in this question?"

The three Black Arm hybrids went silent and left the rest of the room to wonder.

"Keep us in the loop, would ya?" Julie-Su asked as she poured the last smoothie of the evening for herself.

"It's Hugh," Shadow said. "Barker's show isn't going over well. The people don't seem to care for his larger side."

Mina recalled the name. "He's your other brother; the werehog guy who partied with us the night of the blackout?"

"Yes." Shadow closed his eyes. He spoke again, "I'll keep watch over him. Where is he? I see he's in a city with a lot of construction going on."

Sonic thought out loud, "Probably the city where Chaotix are stationed. If it gets out of hand, we can send them in to calm the ensuing pitchfork, slash, torch wielding mob," he said with a half-hearted chuckle.

"Actually, it doesn't look like that will be necessary." Shadow laughed lightly to himself. "He says, 'Spent a long time in the jungle. Got easily bored. Taught myself to juggle with fruit. Never thought it would be useful. The people like it.' He's showing them he's sentient and capable of communication. That's good, they're calming down."

The room looked collectively relieved.

"That's impressive," Rolph said as he watched on though the hivemind. He left the couch he and Mina shared and went to look over the folding table of remaining fruits; he grabbed three that were palm sized. "Let me see if I can figure this out." He flipped his eye patch up for a second and looked at the three orange, red and pink fruit he held. He flipped the patch back down. "..." He tried his hands at juggling and nailed it on the first try. "HA! Leave me with this, I'll get up to five like he did."

They spent the next hour with lo-fi music and juggling tricks. Julie-Su also knew how to juggle and they, after a timing struggle, managed to toss back and forth with one another.

"Lucky seven!" Rolph shouted as the two found their rhythm with the rainbow of fruits.

"Ooh, pretty," Anne said as she witnessed the feat.

"I can't juggle to save my life," Mina said and stared on in awe. "Maybe I just never tried to learn because I don't want to ever 'not' be impressed by it." They laughed.

Rouge's device vibrated. She looked at a message from her former partner. "Private Walker sent an update via the business line. 'Enforcers discovered our route so we had to change ships. Heading straight to you on fastest route. Docking early morning. I sent a full description of my orders from the Colonel.'" She looked at her own line and read aloud, "'Sketchy or what?' he asks on the personal device." She looked up to see her partner's response.

Shadow groaned and sat up again. He struggled a bit with the beanbag chair he hadn't left the entire evening. His feet found the floor along with the shoes he'd kicked off a while ago. "We should head out now." He stood up and lifted a leg to walk but lowered it again. "Why do...my shoes feel so heavy?"

"You're high," Sonic reminded him.

"...I see," he said and ignored the discomfort.

Anne groaned, "Can't we stay a little longer?"

Shadow shrugged, "Stay as long as you want. You don't have a curfew."

"I forgot," she said and leaned back on her tail coil-spring-seat.

Sonic yawned and stretched his large arms behind his head, "I think I'm going to head out too. I know Amy can't really feel lonely right now, but I don't like leaving her alone for so long."

Rolph spoke up. "We still haven't met your lady friend yet. What's the hold up? She shy?" He and Julie-Su caught the remaining objects and ended their performance.

Sonic laughed, "Not even. You can come meet her now, if you want."

Anne lowered herself to her feet. "You're leaving me here?"

Rolph turned to his sister. "Don't you want to hang with Mina bit longer?"

Anne leaned back and used her tail to slithered across the floor. She sat directly next to Mina on the couch, "Good point." She took a deep breath. "We can do this."

Rolph also took a deep breath. "We did this all day in town; we can do it again. I'll head back to the Eggman's place after I'm done with 'big blue' over here." He fist bumped with his sister and left the home with Sonic, Shadow and Rouge.

"Do what, exactly?" Rouge asked along the way.

Rolph looked away, embarrassed, "We've always been together. From day one right up until now, we've only ever been apart for minutes at a time. We're working on not being so anxious when we aren't together. Life is going to be different now that we don't live in a lab setting. It's an adjustment, but we'll manage."

Sonic smiled, "Good for you, both. I know Tails is working on making you two matching communicators; you two can stay in contact seamlessly while you get used to life on the island."

Rolph smiled. "That'd be helpful. Thanks...and uh, sorry for being so snippy at you when we first met. I wasn't expecting everyone to be so forgiving. Got a lot of walls up here," he said and poked his own forehead remorsefully.

"No hard feelings." Sonic gave him a thumbs up.

Shadow and Rouge kept on going to Eggman's rebuilt lair while Sonic invited Rolph into his and Amy's home.

Sonic pulled back the pink sheer curtain and revealed his partner frozen in time.

Rolph stared in fear at the pregnant pink hedgehog. "She's okay like this?"

"Yeah. Shadow said that if we keep her frozen in time, the time dilation caused by the magic she used, will go back to normal. I suppose you know what 'time dilation' is, right?"

Rolph rolled his eye and laughed lightly, "Of course. But, uh...could I take a look at her?" he said and pointed to his eye patch. "I ask, in case you don't want to know answers."

"Answers? Like what?" Sonic looked to be on edge

Rolph looked around the living room. "If you want to know a date she'll go back to normal, put a device on her that can be read without touching-and displays date _and_ time."

Sonic blinked a few times, "That's oddly specific."

He grumbled, "I can't interact with the stuff I see, so, if you want an exact date and time she's going to be 'healed', I can see it on her wrist, or wherever you put whatever device. And 'no', you can't mark a calendar; you won't remember to mark it. Don't argue. This'll work."

"Alright." Sonic realized short tempers were a trait all the Black Arm folks shared. He stretched his arm into his bedroom and retrieved a 'werehog palm sized' digital calendar. He laid it on her lap. "There."

Rolph flipped up his eye patch for a second and back down again.

"What?"

"Put batteries in it," he said with a sigh as he pointed to the dying digital display.

Sonic corrected the dying alarm clock with batteries from the kitchen drawer. "These arms are going to make me lazy." He put them in the device. "Let's try that one more time."

"Hmm," he nodded and flipped his eye patch up again. His eyes shot open and he took a few steps backwards.

"Tell me!" Sonic saw the distressed look on the guys face.

Rolph straightened his eye patch. "I can't see...anything. I think being frozen like this somehow blocks my vision; or maybe there are too many variables. That did happen to me once before. Hugh knew about my eye when he came at us, so he showed up with no plan what-so-ever. He made it up as he went along. With situations like this, it's because I have a role to play in what happens here. I don't know what I'll do when the time comes, which adds to the amount of variables. It's all a blur."

Sonic sighed in defeat and took a seat on the edge of the couch. "Dammit." He looked up to see Rolph looking directly at him with both eyes. "Still don't trust me?"

He replaced the patch again. "Not that. To ease your mind: Amy's going to have two healthy babies; you're going to be insufferable to deal with when you show their pictures. You both go to Mina's concert; it's delayed for 'reasons', but it takes place right out there." He pointed to the back yard; the same spot Mina had in mind to do her waterfront concert. "Happy now?"

"Very." Sonic breathed a deep sigh of relief[finally]. He fell to his back on the couch nearest Amy. "That's a load off my mind."

"Did you get the gender's of the two little one's yet?"

Sonic sat up again, "Boys. Why? Is that not correct?"

Rolph stepped closer to Amy. He drew two outlines with a finger, on her baby bump. "Baby number one is a boy, baby two is a girl. She's gonna have hyper-pigmentation, get some extra B vitamins."

"I'll mark that down before I forget." Sonic marked down words on a nearby sheet of paper.

Rolph read it to himself. "Yes. Good job."

Sonic nodded. He saw Rolph out and sat next to Amy. "Let's see if this pans out." He laid a hand on her frozen knee. "...still warm."

Meanwhile, Rouge led Shadow to the front door of the Eggman Lair. On the way to their quarters, Shadow spotted Cubot who carried more art supplies.

"I'll be up in a while," he said and followed Cubot once again.

"Whatever you say," Rouge huffed and went to bed. "No giggle fits. No stuffing your face. No 'staring in wonder' at something shiny?" Rouge spun around and held her arms out at her sides. "Not even a wistful inward thought? No? Nothing?"

Shadow shrugged. "This drug affects everyone differently, doesn't it?" He paused and thought out loud, "Affected...or effected...no, I had it right the first time. Affect, with an 'a'."

Rouge put fist on her hip and raised an eyebrow, "...I'll take it." She turned back around and opened the door to head to her and Shadow's quarters. "Don't stay up too late playing with Cubot." The door slid shut behind her.

"...I'll stay up as late if I want," Shadow muttered and followed Cubot to the 'mural room'. He sat on the floor and watched the robot reproduce yet another image from the renaissance period, 'Venus and Mars'. "Tiny robot, why are you doing this?" He wistfully asked with a slight dazed look to him. He propped his cheek, on his fist, on his right knee.

Cubot was a bit surprised at Shadow's demeanor, but explained simply, "I still can't get my darling, Rouge, out of my head. I pay her homage each night with another painting."

Shadow sighed warmly. "Tiny robot, why do you only paint pictures from the renaissance period?" he asked with his eyes gently shut.

Cubot poked his fingers together, "It's all Eggman programmed. I guess he thought it would make me smarter. Ha, joke's on him, I'm still as dumb as the paint I use." He poked his head with the brush he held and left a black splotch. "Besides, I'm not able to come up with anything of my own, what with this robot brain and all," he said and knocked on his next-to-hollow head.

Shadow had an idea. He held out a hand, "May I?"

Cubot looked at his hand and then to his own. "You want the paintbrush?"

Shadow nodded, slowly, only once.

"O-okay. Here ya go," he said and backed up as Shadow got back on his feet. "The wall behind you is free."

Shadow turned around and saw that the wall with the door had nothing painted. "Thank you, tiny robot." He paused before he began, "That's your new nic-name."

"O-okay," Cubot was confused, but went back to what he was doing.

Shadow got to creating.

The next day, Rouge awoke and found the bed on the opposite side of the room laid empty. "Odd? Did he stay up?"

Rouge ventured past the kitchen with Anne and Rolph. She smelled toast and coffee in the air. Anne still looked half baked as she sat on her coiled tail and sipped black coffee. "Did either of you see Shadow?"

Rolph pointed down the hall. "He's in the main room."

She continued on and came to the lab; Dr. Eggman and Orbot were within and welded. Sparks of blue and orange flew around and bounced off the table, floor and robot. She waved a brief 'hello', not to disturb much. The two waved back with a friendly demeanor and went right back to work. Rouge finally made it up the elevator and entered the main seating area. She found Shadow asleep and balled on the sofa. His shoes sat in front of him. His quills had too many splotches of paint on them too count.

She nudged him. "Wakey-wakey. It's nearly ten, dear."

Shadow unballed and looked around. "That's late." He got up quickly and straightened his quills that had been severely mussed from his sleeping position choice. He stretched and felt the effects of a decent night's sleep. "We should get going soon," Shadow was anxious to see if his plan would work.

"Right back on the grind, no surprises there. Um, aren't you going to shower first?" She flicked his lowest quill tip with pink paint.

He looked at what she meant. "The paint is dry. I'll shower after coffee." Rouge yawned and took Shadow to the kitchen for the morning routine.

In the lab, Eggman and Cubot finished their preparation for the day's activity and went down to the sub lab to truly 'get to work'. Cubot trailed behind his master and chauffeured a device, half the doctor's height, cloaked in a white sheet, on white hover platform.

Shadow heard them disembark. He turned his attention to Anne. Anne watched Rouge squeeze a device in the burlap bag, from it's outside.

"It's ready!" Anne announced and rose to her feet. With a lightening fast motion she stuck her twin brother with the new chemical she'd acquired.

"Why's it always gotta be in the fucking neck!" He shouted right before his eye rolled slightly back in his head. He steadied himself on the round kitchen table.

Anne snapped a finger and pointed at him. "That's why: It works quickest that way," she said and smirked.

"Warning, Anne...warning is what I need," he said with a few rapid blinks to readjust his depth perception.

Shadow chuckled under his breath.

"The device will only work for eight minutes. We need to hurry," Rouge said and showed off the small cylinder with the words 'Scrambler eight million' on the side. Shadow had smuggled it in with the use of his shoes. "Props to Sonic for grabbing this from Tails. He's sneakier than I thought. I'm almost impressed."

Shadow looked at his sibling who had been dosed as he had been the night before. "Eight million dollar question: Can you teach a robot sign language in eight minutes?"

Rolph rubbed his face for the sensation and laughed a bit, "Hehehhh...I can do it in three...provided the robot isn't brain dead. Like the little yellow one. Don't get me wrong, he's a sweet little thing, but dear fuck, he's soooo dumb." Rolph prattled as he led them to the legless, mouthless robot Eggman had in a large holding container. It mostly resembled a metal casket with a glass front.

Shadow observed the fake 'master emerald' Eggman had shown off to Anne and Rolph their first night there. "If Metal Sonic is from another timeline and also holds a Chaos Emerald, he should be liberated and his stolen property returned. We can't leave the emerald behind." Shadow stood with folded arms as Rouge worked her magic with technology.

She plugged in the other device Tails made for them, where he said to plug it in, and it did everything automatically. "My work here is done," she said, brushed her hands together and stepped back.

Metal's Sonic's eyes lit up red and glared at his four visitors.

* * *

...-_-...O_O


End file.
